Breaking Of The Bond
by Rocks-my-socks
Summary: AU: When Sookie chooses Eric, he swiftly takes her to Rome for a romantic break. On their return, the Viking immedately knows something isn't right and the fact that his progeny apparently doesn't want to be found is not helping matters...
1. The Unsettling Homecoming

**Disclaimer:** The Southern Vampire Mysteries, True Blood, Eric, Pam – none of it belongs to me. I only have an over active imagination...

**Author Note:** Hey All! So after the finale, like a lot of people I think, I felt fairly bummed out over where Pam and Eric were left (and now we have to wait an entire year!). During season 3 they turned into my favourite characters. Their friendship/bond, to me at least, feels the truest on the show due to its complexities. My heart thus crumbled when Eric told Pam he'd kill her and she subsequently ended up sobbing in the lovely Ginger's arms; despite this chapter appearing to the contrary, I totally agree with Pam; F*** Sookie.

This is an AU fiction; as such, I have kept Godric alive. He is such a kick ass character and before the fic's done, Eric will _need_ his maker. Tara is also somewhere in Bon Temps alive and kicking but I doubt we'll see her. Sookie manned up and chose Eric over Bill at the end of season 4. I'm sure I meant to tell you about a few other bits I've changed, but I must have been glamoured somewhere in the past hour and can't remember so I will let you know as I go along. One thing that hasn't changed though is that a certain Mr Edgington is on his way back...

**Breaking of the Bond**

_Chapter 1 _

Rome was wonderful that time of year – Eric Northman had forgotten how lovely it was. And it was even lovelier when you were there with someone who you loved... especially when it was the way he loved Sookie. That was why he had thought to take her there.

The last time he had been there had been just a couple of years before the first Great War. After he had nearly lost... his eyes shut. He would not remember. Not then...

He would not let that time interfere with what was about to come.

His eyes turned to the bed. Sookie lie there exhausted – exhausted by him he was glad to say. He _could_ go for six hours; she had been thrilled to learn it was an indeed the truth. Her blonde hair was tucked to one side of her neck so he had the view of her bare back, her lower body covered by the soft cotton sheet.

She was so alluring, in_ every_ way.

He smirked – he could not help it. He could just about remember the last time he had been with a human who had made him feel like this if he tried, but he would not. Not because he couldn't; but because he didn't want too.

He had decided to sweep her away to Europe just three days previously. The last few months had been strenuous for the two of them, the events of the Moon Goddess Emporium coming right on top of his amnesia.

The year before he had had to cope with her absence. He had not given up hope and he had not believed her to be dead, for he was not like any of the others, as he had told her on her return. But he had felt the strain. If the truth was known, he had loved her for quite some time. The time he had been without her, well – it had made his heart, such as it was, grow fonder of her.

Then he had told her he was planning their little trip away and she had reacted in a so very 'Sookie' like. She had said she could not leave Sam in the lurch; that she was not sure if she was able to leave Jason when he had been through so much and she did not want to rub Bill's nose in their love.

As was ever his way, Eric had set about eradicating these little inconveniences. He had spoken to Sam, who had in the end been more than understanding... Though Sookie had probably had more than her fair share of time off, it had been years since she had had a holiday and he had no right to deny her a little rest and relaxation; Eric had made that clear to him. As for Jason, it was pretty obvious that Jessica was going to be seeing to him. Lastly, he had made the very valid point that they would be less likely to rub the king of Louisiana's nose in their affection if they were on another continent.

And so she had had to cave as she was always bound too. In the end, it had been easier for him to get her out of Bon Temps than he had thought it was going to be actually.

In the days since they had arrived, she had gone out exploring in the day – the sites which he had been too hundreds of times over the years. She had made it a habit to be back to the vampire hotel they were staying in good time for sun set, so as soon as he got out of bed hers was the first face he saw. Invariably, the two of them would make love and he would have breakfast before he went and sat with her while she had dinner. Then the two of them might go to a bar (they had visited one human and one vampire so far) before going back to the hotel and back to bed. All in all – it was very satisfying…

He thought as long as things kept going as they were, they might very well stay on past the two weeks he had planned for them to stay – she would not need too much persuading. He would be lenient of the rent. He had Chow watching the bar...

What reason was there to return?

Well, there was one, a voice say from deep within him as his progeny's face came to his mind. Yet just at that moment he was far too angry to even consider seeing her. He was glad he had not carried out his threat, for there were few crimes as heinous as a maker killing their progeny – especially there first.

But he did not want to see her. He knew her even better than she was willing to admit, and he knew the worst punishment for her was to deny her access to him. By the time he was ready to talk, she would be more than willing to be reconciled. Being the benevolent maker that he was, he'd forgive her and take her back into his arms. He would miss her while they were parted...

But not yet... she could have killed Sookie. And she had to pay for what she had almost done to his heart, which jumped at the sight of the opening eyes on the bed.

"My lover," he said as he crossed the room to her, laying one of his huge hands on the small of her back.

"Why aren't you in bed? I thought you'd be tired," she teased, rubbing her nose against his as he kissed her, lying at her side.

"Miss Stackhouse, I don't think I have ever been so insulted in all my life."

"Well, then Mr Northman... you'll have to punish me."

Sookie's punishment went on until sunrise...

XXX

Two happy weeks turned in to two enjoyable months before Eric had even realized it. Every time he had said to Sookie that the two of them should extend once more, she had protested before he had convinced her it was the right thing to do.

His methods at times had been unorthodox. Yet, they had worked.

But two months was long time. He did not know why but over the past week he had felt a shadow grow in his mind – he had heard nothing from Bill in two months. And worst than that, he had heard nothing from Pam. Not even so much as a smoke signal...

He had thought he was not going to accept her in his presence until he was ready to see her and after months of silence he was the first to break he found. They were dependent on one another (or at least they had been) but as her maker, he was the one with responsibility for her. He felt it was high time to check in with the spoiled girl. Only, when he had tried to through the bond they shared, he found he could not.

Prideful and insubordinate, she had blocked him. But that was when he knew she was at her lowest, he knew, if she was too stubborn to let him feel what she was – and so it was time to go home to Shreveport and make friends once more.

"Can we come back next year?" asked Sookie as she packed her belongings. She had the bag she had come with as well as a new suitcase full of new clothes. He was afraid he might have spoiled her a little while they were away but it had ever been his habit, to dote on beautiful women, especially when they were his human – and she was worth every euro he had spent on her.

"If that be your wish my lover," he said kissing the back of her neck.

"You'll back to the house with me tomorrow tonight when we get back wont you?" she asked him, revealing her own vulnerability to him as she turned in his arms. The two of them had spent so much time together... falling asleep side by side so much... she did not think she was ever going to get any sleep if she was not with him.

Smiling, he nodded. "Naturally."

He had been planning on it any way. "I am going to need to go to town to check on the club though."

"You can't give yourself one night off?"

"Sookie, I just gave myself two months off and that is my source of income. I need to check in with Chow, I need to check the books and the stock," he said as he put his own clothes away in a case.

"And Pam too?"

He knew it had been a source of trouble to her that he had not much mentioned his child since the two of them had been away. She had met them when they had been at there closest. When they had not been lovers and when they had not been fighting. When they had been friends and they had been united.

It was only there for a moment, but she saw the expression of longing which crossed his features'. Though there was a stab of jealousy on her part, she wiped it away.

He raised an eye brow. Their blood bond meant she could hide nothing about the way she was feeling from him. "I always knew I was not going to be the only women in your life. And she was there first," she reasoned as she sat down on the bed, pausing for a moment. "Eric, what she did when we were out side of the Moon Goddess Emporium-"

"Was unforgivable and unprecedented. I did not bring her up to disobey my orders, and she knew what she was doing," he cut her off. He loved her, but he did wish at times that she would not discuss matters she did not understand.

"I know – but she is your child, right? Eric, maybe I am simplifying it too much, but if I saw my dad try to give his life up for someone else... you know what she went through that night. When we were on that roof top... when Godric_ nearly_ met the sun," She said and she watched a shadow cross his handsome features.

She knew how much he loved his maker. "When you talked him down – seeing you cry and be willing to lay down your own life for him. That was when I begun to fall in love with you, you know that right?" she sighed. "You're too alike, you and Pam. She is your child in every way."

When he thought of what he had gone through – when he thought of her actions as similar. Well, it did not seem so bad suddenly.

"Deny it all you want, but you love her and you miss her."

With that one sentence she presumed too much and he found he did not like her telling him what he felt and went to the bathroom to gather his belongings. How was it this human spoke about things she did not know with such understanding? It did his head in.

He looked through the crack of the door at her. It had been a long time since anyone had given to him what she had – sexual fulfilment. Almost one hundred years had passed since he had had that.

Yet in the past two weeks he had begun to realise, she was no match for him intellectually, as he was no match for her emotionally. They loved one another intensely... but there was a depth she had which he did not... and vice versa.

The flight back to America went without a hitch and Sookie was only too glad to get out of the plane so that the Louisiana heat could hit her. As much as she had loved her time in Italy, it had been a little cold for a sun worshipper such as herself. She intended to enjoy the last of the sun bathing days before they came to an end for another winter.

The two of them landed at eight o'clock so he was able to get out of his travel coffin at the air port and sit in the cab with her on the way back to Bon Temps. His own driver would be at the old Stackhouse place to take him to Shreveport before dropping him back for the evening.

As soon as he got to Bon Temps, he felt a coldness inside of himself though. As if he wanted to open a door and could not. As if he was just on the other side of it.

"It is so good to be home," said Sookie as he brought the bags in. Within five minutes she had made some ice tea for herself and got him a Tru Blood. Due to their night time escapades, even her vitamins were not helping her iron count enough of late. The two of them knew they were going to have to be sensible.

"Perhaps I should go home," he mused. The two of them could spend the next night together. He had been away for so long – he should probably spend the night at home with Pam. No doubt there was going to be another spat before the reconciliation.

"If that's what you want – but I wish you wouldn't," she said as she came up to him and put her arms about him. Leaning down slightly to manage the height difference, he kissed her head. "Tomorrow – go home tomorrow. And in a way you are home – this is your house after all." She said teasingly.

He nodded as he kissed her once more. She was right. It was his house – and with her inside maybe it was also his too home now. "I'll be back no later than eleven."

"I'll be ready and waiting." She nodded as he stepped back to the door.

"Oh and Sookie?"

"Yes?"

"Don't shower until I'm back."

XXX

The sheriff of area five felt more himself the closer he got to Fangtasia. Rome had been a lovely break. But it was over and he was ready to get back to the real world. To the club, to his dependents, to the public. As hard as it was to believe, as he thought about it, part of him had even missed dear Ginger.

"Welcome back sir," the bouncer on the door nodded to him as he entered his little slice of Louisiana. His kingdom. At Fangtasia, he was lord and master of all - and he loved feel of it.

To his disappointment when he went through, he saw Ginger was not serving that evening. Never mind, perhaps Chow had given her the night off. He had been the one who was doing the rotas for the past weeks.

But as he walked through – heading in, something wasn't right. Off balance.

The punters were there – his staff were there... but no Ginger. And even more worryingly, from what he could see... no Pam.

"Where is she?" he muttered under his breath as he strolled into the office to find Chow in there.

"Master." His servant said as he saw him. "We weren't expecting you."

"Apparently not," he said as he observed Chow. He sat like a king on_ his_ leather sofa, a fang banger on each leg. "Get out," he dismissed the brunettes. His mood must be readable for they did as they were told without question.

As soon as the door was shut, he turned on Chow. "First of all, you know the rules. No fang bangers in the office. Second of all,wherethe fuck is Pam?" he said as his desperation to see his progeny built. Something was not right. He could feel it – he had felt it in Bon Temps but dismissed it. He had told himself everything would be fine when he got to the club in the car; but he had been wrong.

"How the hell would I know? I'm not her keeper,Eric," he replied impudently.

_Don't I know it,_ the Viking mused. _I have the misfortune_. "Is she not working tonight?" he asked raising an eye brow.

Chow's face fell. "She didn't contact you."

"Not recently. Why? Should she have?"

"Pam sold her shares in the club to me three weeks ago before the ceremony."

Eric felt as if the hole had falling out the bottom of his world. "Sold her shares? Three weeks ago? What fucking ceremony, Chow?"

Please review!


	2. Three Weeks Before

'I've found out this year conclusively that Pam is not a strategist; she's a _reactor_.' – Kristin Bauer Von Straten

'There's a fire starting in my heart, reaching a fever piece and its bringing me out the dark, finally I can see you crystal clear, go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your shit there, see how I leave with every piece of you, _don't __underestimate__ thing things that I __will do_.' – Adele, Rolling in the Deep

**Chapter 2:** Three weeks before...

As soon as the ink on the page had dried then a new chapter in her life had begun, Pam told herself as she set the pen down neatly by the side of the paper. It seemed to Chow that she had not been sure about what she was doing when she had come to him to tell him she wanted out of Fangtasia. However, with every meeting since, she had become more and more certain. He understood why she was doing it now of course. She was just over one hundred... to get such a position in their society was very good going for her.

And, of course, it was going to place her out of Eric's control. He had said as much to her, for he had thought she might want to hear someone else say it... and he wanted to say 'I told you' so when the master returned.

Chow had been with them for the past five years. They had longed ceased being lovers by the time he joined them, but even he had been able to see there was something special in their bond. The amount of time she had stayed with her maker... part of Chow thought it was unnatural. The other was insanely jealous he had not had that with his own maker.

And so for her to slip the net when he was away... Eric was not going to be pleased when he returned.

"I know what I am doing," she said as she got up out the chair, dainty almost, in her soft pink sun dress with her huge bright pink bag. Not a strand of her soft blonde hair was out of place.

All in all, she felt more like herself than she had for the past five weeks. And she was taking control of her own destiny for once in her life. Of course, she knew all she was really doing was placing herself from once arsehole's control and into another's... but at least she was making a choice.

Her eyes scanned the office once more as she headed out of the door. "Enjoy the shit hole," she said and she knew in that moment had she not been a vampire than bile would had risen in her throat.

Fangtasia was a lot of things, but it was _not_ a shit hole. It was her baby. She had helped build it up and for all her complaining and all the fang bangers, she loved working there. It was fun; a laugh even. The times she and Eric had stayed up late mocking the punters...

But she had to put those days out of her head. For they were over. She was moving on to bigger and better things.

Putting on sun glasses unnecessarily (it was night time after all) Pam got in the car that was waiting for her. Her bags were in the trunk and she was ready to go... to, in some ways, a new life entirely.

As she slid in though, she found she was not going alone.

As soon as she was in the cab, she interlocked her fingers with her humans.

"You are the only one I can count on Ginger, you know that, don't you?" she said to her human. Since the two of them had shared the – well, moment in the office - Pam did not seem to be able to stop the way she was feeling from spilling out her mouth to the bar maid – _ex_ bar maid. She was going with her mistress... to a better life.

"We'll be ok."

"Course we will, Cupcake," she said with both sarcasm and affection in her voice. "Drive," she commanded as she took one last look at the neon sign and door which would lead her to the business she had been so instrumental in building up.

Still, one door shut, and open and all that nonsense.

The journey took half an hour to get to her new residence. All the way, she held the little breathers hand and mulled over her decisions. If she went through with the ceremony, then that was it for ten years. She had to stay with the pompous little dork, she would have no choice.

But when a pompous little dork was all you had... better the dork you know that the one you don't. Eric had had a month to come back. If he thought she was going to hang around and wait for him to finish planning Prince Charming to Tinkerbell, he had another thing coming.

She'd have Ginger for all her sexual needs, she'd have _him_ for power and security and she'd show Mr Cold and Heartless himself that his sentimental streak was his very worse quality . If there was one thing she was glad her mother had taught her it was that people were going to need her before she needed them. That was the lesson Eric would have to learn now.

As the jag pulled up outside of the old Compton House, she turned to Ginger and took a deep breath – a stupidly human thing to do when she didn't have too. "Our lives are about to change. If you don't want to come with me, then go back to Fangtasia now. There is still time Ginger. Don't feel I forced you into this."

"What happened to you can count on me?" the slightly dopy woman said to her, earning a kiss off of her mistress.

The car door opened – and there was no going back. She saw flowers through the door way. She saw decorations on the door.

Only a small ceremony then, King Bill.

Not that she had a very good look at the hall way before her favourite little red head ran into her arms. "How's it going, Little Miss Riding Hood?" she said to Jess as she pulled back, a knowing glint in her eye.

"Much better now that my wicked step mother to be is here," the red haired beauty returned with just the right amount of sass. At last, it seemed the baby was learning.

"Oh it is going to be fun here, isn't it?" Pam asked. "And where's my beloved?"

"Right here, sweetheart."

Neither of them was going to ever be beloved by the other – this was no_ love_ match. But as long as they were companionable and loyal to a certain degree, Pam did not see why she and Bill should not be as happy as any other married couple.

After all, how many of them were really 'in love' as it was?

One thing was for sure; she couldn't have her heart's desire. Not anymore. And so she would do what she had promised she never would. She would _settle_ for comfort and money. And protection.

Russell Edgington was not strong yet, but he was going to be within the next few months. She had to have a protector. At one hundred years old, she could not be alone during this time. He was going to be after her as much as he was the others. And so she may as well stand shoulder to shoulder with Bill if Eric wouldn't have her anymore.

And if she got a home in return? Well that was just luck.

She had been a hooker once; she could be a hooker again.

"I hope this is not going to be how the next ten years will be," she said as she released Jessica and kissed Bill, allowing him to keep a not entirely welcomed hand on the small of her back once she had step back from him. He had remarkably small hands she thought. Eric had been the last man she had been touched by – Bill was an entirely different specimen from her maker; that was for sure.

"Of course not. I shall be standin' by the door with roses every time you walk in," he mocked her with a smile, but her eyes noted there were indeed roses and champagne waiting for her on the dining room table. She was slightly partial to it even then, though not as much as she had been when she'd been human. Just because the two of them were not truly in love did not mean her old time southern gentleman was not going to treat her the way she deserved to be she was glad to see.

"I was going to say you shouldn't have, but you really _should_. Thank you, pumpkin," she said with a rather suggestive raised eye brow.

He chuckled. "'Pumpkin'? It's better than 'infatuated tween' I suppose."

"Much better. You've risen inestimably in my eyes since those days."

"Really?"

"No, not really – but you have a little," she said teasingly as he took her hand.

"Jessica, you're right. She is going to be a _wicked_ stepmother indeed. And a disruptive influence in our lives."

"Works for me," Jess nodded as she collapsed on to the sofa. "Bill, you realise, of course, you're living full time with two women now, which means you're a little screwed."

"That's what he hopes," the women by his side drawled.

"Pam, don't be gross!"

Having grossed Jess out totally, the two adult vamps left the room. "Let me show you to your suite," Bill said as he led her up the stairs. "Now if you do not like it then, of course, you are free to redecorate at your own will. But I wanted it to be ready for you when you arrived. Just so you know... its pink."

"In that case, I'll love it."

And even though she was not half as grateful vocally as she should have been when she saw it, she did _love_ it. She loved it so much that she thought the only man who could have given her this room was Eric, for it was directly in line with her taste.

But the man with her was Bill Compton. Perhaps she had been too harsh on him. Ever since Eric had lost his memory, he had been the only one who even seemed to _nearly_ care. And now out of all the vamps he could have taken as a consort, he had asked her. Of course, she was not blind to the reality of the situation. Part of the reason he had chosen her was so that it would piss Eric off big time.

Yet that was just one more advantageous part of their union.

"Thank you, Bill. For everything," she said as she walked over to her window to see the view down to the lit up lake. "It's lovely," she said as her eyes scanned the white wooden furniture, the pink carpet and bed spread , the sofa and the coffee table, the high ceilings and the door which lead to her own bathroom. "Some would say a lot more than I deserve for nearly killing the love of your life."

"But no less than you deserve for putting up with Eric Northman for the past hundred years."

"I am sure the next ten with you will be just as eventful," she purred as she walked over to him and took his hands in hers, interlocking their fingers. "So what now? I become the blissful Queen of Louisiana and all my problems magically fuck off?"

Raising her hands to kiss them, he let one go to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Well here's hopin' hey, Pam?"

**Author Note: **Did you hear a scream this morning? Yup? That was me waking up to 10 reviews in my inbox! I was so happy, I can't tell you, thank you guys so much. Brownie points go to 'lovely', who reviewed first and who also correctly guessed what the ceremony was about.

Regarding this chapter, and the marriage contract: book readers know vamp marriages usually have to take place at a conference, such as the one Sookie goes to with Sophie Anne and usually last 100 years (if I've got my Sookie canon right?). I'm not saying any more due to spoilers and stuff. However, the show hasn't specified really much about vamp marriages, apart from the Authority giving the go ahead to two monarchs marrying. Since here we have a king marrying a subject, who will assumedly return to being a subject once the marriage contract is up, I'm thinking the political aspect of the marriage won't be such a big thing – at least, I'm not making it into a big deal. Let's just say the Authority agree with it. There are going to other issues with the marriage, but they're going to come up along the way so I'll shut up now.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! _Please Review_!


	3. The Silhouette at the Window

**Chapter 3**

"But is he good in the sack, Cheeto?" said Pam as she put on her make up by her vanity, looking at Jessica through the mirror.

"Yeah – I mean, actually, Jason is the best sex I have ever had!" Jessica said as she collapsed on to the bed with a devilish smile on her face that said young Mr Stackhouse could at least satisfy her in some ways. If not all...

"You've slept with two men," Pam pointed out knowing Jason couldn't hold a candle to the best sex _she_ had ever had.

"I know – which is the problem... just because Jason is good in bed, doesn't make me feel any better for what we did to Hoyt. He was his best friend Pam... and he gave up Summer for me!" she said as she lay bed and covered her face with her hands. "I didn't want to – I never wanted to become a bitch, Pam."

"Well, you're a vampire, it comes with the territory." Said Pam as she turned round, her bright red lip stick as ever applied with the up most care. "Hoyt," she said with an intense look of displeasure on her face, the one Jess knew from when Pam had tried to drink a bottle of True Blood the other day, "is a big boy. You were his first love, whoopee, big deal. He'll get over you when the – what do they say? - the 'right' one comes along."

"Well thanks for that – the ego boost really helped me out there."

"Don't mention it. Now are you coming shopping?" Pam asked and Jess shook her head.

The two of them left the Queen's suite and headed down the hall, Jess taking the first left to her own room, while Pam threw a right just before the stairs. His majesty had been generous and accommodating when it came to her needs, she thought, as she walked into Ginger's room.

"Morning sweet stuff, I'm hungry – what's good for a girl to drink round here?" she said throwing her human a wicked smile.

Half an hour later, the queen walked down the grand stair case, satisfied. As she passed various guards, they all nodded respectfully to her; '_Your majesty_'. Though not a queen in her own right, Pam decided to enjoy her new privileges while they lasted; they were the little perks that got her through the day. Nine years and forty nine weeks on from that moment, she lost her 'your majesty' status and went back to who she had been.

"Sweetheart, on your way out?" she heard a voice call her through to the office. The voice of her husband.

"Shopping," she replied walking through to him. "If I am going to be your queen then I have to look the part Bill." She said watching him sign a batch of official looking documents. Once that was done, he got up and walked round the desk.

"Quite, though I think you already do," he complimented her as he often did. "Enjoy yourself, I'll see you tonight," and putting a hand on the back of her head, he kissed her forehead. And just for a moment, she could fool herself it was someone else's hand on her head. Someone else's lips caressing her skin.

As she walked out, she pondered her decisions as well as her marriage to the king. If she was going to regret it, she certainly wasn't _yet._ Bill remained a bit of a pussy in her eyes... but a kind, generous pussy. Since the two of them had been wed, she had shopped more than once... and when she shopped, she _shopped_. He made no comment about her spending... this was a big plus.

Another big plus, was surprisingly, Bill was quite capable of finding his way about the bedroom. She had thought he would have been more virginal than he was between the sheets. Someone had taught him well. She prayed it was her predecessor Caroline, or the psychotic Lorena. Because if it wasn't... well, it was no wonder she had not seen Eric for so long.

And there it was. The stab in her stomach that made her feel sick every time she so much as thought his name. And here were the tears that swam in her eyes when she recalled his face...

_Vamp up_, she told herself. A vampire always controls their emotions; they are not at the mercy of them. That was what Godric had told Eric in the war. That was the little gem Eric had passed on to her.

But he seemed to have forgotten it.

If Godric knew what she had been up to lately then he had not made contact or passed comment. She could not think her own makers sire would agree with any of the choices she and Eric had made of late. If Eric knew what she had done and not passed comment... then her marriage really was for nothing.

She considered trying to reach him... trying to talk to Eric... but he had made his feelings quite clear. He had not even come to say goodbye to her when he had left with Sookie. He had left Chow in charge... his feelings were crystal clear.

_Bill's rich, he's handsome and in his own way, he cares for you. He really does, _she told herself, remembering the words she had said to the fairy princess over her maker. With the first word being 'Bill,' though, it just didn't have the same effect though.

For the next four hours, Pam lost herself at the all night Mall. Tiffany's, Maceys, Bloomingdales; they were all _thrilled _she was feeling on a low. And by the time she was due to leave, she felt a little better than she had.

Yet a car ride alone with her thoughts undid all her good work. Every time she was alone, the feeling hit her of only being half full; half complete, like a half done jigsaw puzzle someone had walked away from.

Oh, she could smile and be sarcastic for Jess... she could shop and have sex with Bill... but she could not lie to her heart.

Not wishing to see anyone on her return to her new residence, she went straight to her room and crossed to her window to look out on the lake.

There was only one thought in her mind at that moment.

_God, I miss you..._

She hated herself for the weakness, but she could not change there was very little she wouldn't do to see Eric's face for a second... to feel him by her side for just a moment.

XXX

Eric had fully intended on being driven back to Bon Temps – but when Chow told him what his little darling had been up to whilst he had been away, he vamped it back in record time. He could not have sat in a car for half an hour. He needed more speed than that.

What the _fuck _had she been thinking? Had she taken actual fucking leave of her actual fucking senses? He believed so. She must have been hit on the head by something hard. She must have been cursed by the spirit of Marnie. She must have been drunk on a fairy, because to think she had married Mr Mainstream of her own free will hurt too much... which was probably her intention.

She had pulled more than her fair share of stunts in her time, but never had she –

Never had he been so furious with her as he was right then. Not even outside Moon Goddess. What had she been thinking? He's hurt me, so I'll hurt him? And I'll do it twice as bad?

Probably.

If that was the case, then bingo. Well done, Pamela dear, mission accomplished. Yet he felt something else he had not entirely been expecting.

Guilt.

She had been desperate, he had known that. She had been alone, which he had always known was when she made her worse decisions. She had fought through his battle with amnesia at his side, when she had made sure Sookie took him in. Her face had nearly rotted off... and he had _not_ been at her side. When he had got his memories back, he hadn't summoned her and when she had come he had been too wrapped in Sookie to even consider her feelings in it all.

And then he had left her alone, without so much as trying to contact her for two entire months.

Suddenly her marriage to King Bill, a King Bill who aided her and gave her attention, who cared about her and offered to _take_ care of her didn't seem so odd. In fact...

It made sense... all but for one fact. She was his. She was his progeny. She was his lover, his sister, his daughter, his mother, his...

HIS!

He didn't like sharing his possessions with anyone, not even royalty. That went doubly so when the royalty in question was Bill 'I only drink Tru Blood' Compton.

Arriving outside the Compton House, he looked up at it, and considered his course of action. His natural reaction told him to go in there, kill Bill, claiming Pam and assumedly Ginger, for his own once more. Option two: fly up to Pam's room and follow through with his threat to kill her. Option three: the calmer approach, which would be difficult for himself and yet completely unsatisfying for _her majesty_...

He scoffed almost; Pam, a queen. _His_ queen. What a joke.

But as he scanned the house and saw her silhouette at the window which looked out on to the lake, it wasn't a very funny joke for very long.

Foolish, _foolish_ girl. What had she done to herself?

XXX

"I did not hear you come back," said Bill, entering his wife's room once he had been told she was indeed home.

Had she been human then she could have said she was tired or she had a headache. As it was, she was vampire.

"You were working; I didn't want to disturb you. I – " she couldn't think of what to say and so she turned to him and gave a brave smile. In the past weeks he had seen she was not always bitchy or snarky. That she hurt the same way Jessica did when he wasn't around for her.

He saw her tears over spill and sighed. In the weeks before her marriage, when he had gone to the home she had shared with her maker, this was a common sight.

"It's ok to hurt for him. I know it's going to take you some time to get over Eric."

"I don't need your fucking permission." She spat back. She was not Sookie Stackhouse. The two of them had not just fucked for a couple of sun filled months and then broken up. Eric had been her rock, her solid ground, her safe place to run for one hundred years. They had seen the very worst of times together. They had been through two world wars, they had travelled the world, and they had fought, laughed, kissed, fucked and yelled all the way to the long road that had lead them to Fangtasia.

"Of course not," he sighed as he crossed the room, joining her at the window. Putting his hands on her shoulders from behind, he kissed the back of her head. "Pam, I know we're not Romeo and Juliet. But let me help you. I'm your husband, let me in." He said kissing her.

For a moment she paused as if considering her next move. She was an ice queen, but he was slowly chipping down to the softer layers. Turning to face him, she let him see her desperately sad expression. How funny; in the previous years he would not have even known it was possible for Pamela Swynford De Beaufort to look like such a sad little puppy dog. But that was before her owner had left her on the side of the street.

Cupping her face, he caressed her cheeks, and it wasn't long until his fingers were dripping blood from her tears. She was so extreme; one moment, the hard face cow who was bullet proof, the next, a terrified little girl who didn't know what to do for the best.

Pushing his lips to hers, she let them linger there for a moment, before trying to find shelter in his embrace. It had after all worked before... in the weeks building up to her marriage.

She calmed as he ran a soothing hand down her back. She couldn't see it, but he was smirking. Bill wondered if the Sherriff of Area 5 had had his dinner before he had come to see the show?

Kissing her forehead, he shut the curtain deliberately. "You're tired," he noted, sure that the blood on his hands was a consequence of the bleeds as well as her tears. The truth was ever since he had taken a greater interest in her life, Pam had never for a day been entirely well. Of course, she put on a good act. But there was a twinkle in her eye which had gone missing when Eric had left her. And he knew _he'd_ never put it back there.

Taking her hand, he lead her to the bed, he threw open the covers where he helped her in and covered her back as he might have Jessica when she was too tired. Using the remote control by her bed, he made sure that the sun proof blinds came down as well.

For a moment, he paused and looked into the face of his wife, wondering if ten years was long enough for the two of them to grow together in love, for her to fill the hole Sookie had left when she had chosen Eric. He was certainly willing to let her try.

"Sleep Pam," he ordered his wife softly, kissing her hand once more. She gave a sad grateful smile to him. There would be no marital duties required of her that night obviously.

"Thank you," she replied quietly, almost as if she was ashamed of what she was saying. She hated being grateful to anyone; least of all him.

He left her room, shutting the door quietly. He wasn't surprised to see an aide come towards him.

"Your majesty, you have a visitor."

"You surprise me, Shelly, at this time of night. Who could that _possibly_ be?" he asked the blonde.

"The Sherriff of Area 5, your majesty."

"Ahh," Bill smirked. "So the wonderer returns. I had better go and see what he wants."

_Please review!_

**Author Note:** Hey all, I hope you all enjoyed that chapter. I'm afraid that Pam might have been a little out of character, but I hope not unbelievable so. Considering Eric's desertion remains fresh in her head, I do think she'd have moments of weakness, even in front of Bill. I am probably going to write in some flash backs so how they arrived at this point in time can become more understandable. Anyway, I hope it didn't take away from the story.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing! I'm really grateful!

Lovely: Hey... I had a hard time putting in a second genre here; I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to give too much away either, but my reasoning for labelling it 'family' was is the main kind of umbrella term I think the bond between a maker and progeny can be labelled as. That said; it's obviously far more complex than just family, because of the fact the love between a progeny and maker can manifest itself as love a parent would have for their child, brother for a sister or indeed lovers. As well as Pam/Eric, Godric will be arriving, Jess and Bill we too be fairly prominent in the story so that bond will remain at the forefront. As for who Pam will end up with, its far too soon to say. Thanks so much for reviewing!


	4. Eric meets the Queen

**Chapter 4**

Eric decided to at least begin things as amicably as he could. What happened next was up to the king. He had stood transfixed on the silhouette of his progeny, even after the vampire he now knew was her husband had come to her side. He had wanted nothing more than to go up and tell Bill Compton to take his hands off of her. The porcelain skin had to be touched gently and caressed lovingly for results; and all of it belonged to him. He didn't want Bill anywhere near his girl.

His jealousy had mounted as Bill had run his hand down her back and kissed her – and shut the curtain, presumably then led her to bed.

That was when Eric knew he had to go in. The chances were the two of them had already consummated their sham marriage – but for the last time if he had anything to do with it.

Now he stood in the king's office, waiting for the bastard to assumedly finish getting dressed once more. When the footsteps did come, they were slow and steady. Bill was in no rush to get to him.

"Ahh, stranger. I was wondering when Area 5 would get their sheriff back," Bill beamed, entering the office.

"Just after I get my progeny back."

"Ten years time then – I had been start looking for a stand in."

"Ten years?"

"That's how long the marriage contract says my and Pam are tied together for. We might extend though – the past three weeks have been most enjoyable for_ my_ new queen and I..." Bill tested Eric.

The king was surprised how good it felt to have one up on the sheriff at last. When he thought about the previous years, all the times Sookie had been used as bait by Eric. All the threats about how if he wanted her he could have her... in the end, Eric had been proved right. But the arrogant Viking had never thought about the cost he would have to pay for Sookie and he was willing to bet if he knew what it was, then he would never have taken her.

Bill knew he had left himself vulnerable. After all, Jessica was so young still and unsure of herself. But she was a progeny of a king and still a baby vamp. She could not marry yet. But that didn't mean Eric couldn't hurt her in needs must – Bill knew he would do it. He had to hope for kindness where he had shown none.

Bill supposed in some ways, his relationship with Lorena had damaged him. He did not know what it was to love your maker. In truth, he found Pam slightly unnatural and obsessive when it came to her beloved Eric. And yet, he had come between them. Pam had been the greatest part of Eric's heart, just as Sookie had been the greater part of his. They had done nothing more than swap, though not consensually.

"Extend your illegal marriage? By all means, do it, your majesty," Eric replied.

The more that Eric had thought about it, the more it had made sense. Bill loathed Pam. Or at least, they certainly weren't the best of friends. He was far to hung up on his Sookie to think of Pam in that way. This was nothing more than a gesture. A sham, he tried to convince himself.

After all, Eric reasoned, he was Pam's maker and he had certainly not released her. Even after a progeny had been released, they still had to ask their maker for permission to marry. He had not given his blessing or his consent to this marriage. Nor would he – ever.

"Ahh, Northman, you do not let me down do you? I wondered how long it would take to get round to the legality of my union. It turns out with a few good lawyers and a couple more loop holes, anything is possible. You see, when a maker no longer knows their progeny, the progeny is immediately free," he declared and for once, Eric showed his emotions.

His face feel. "You lying piece of shit."

"That is no way to talk to your king. I'm sorry to tell you this but as soon as Marnie put the spell on you, you lost your ownership of Pamela." Bill declared with mirth in his voice.

Eric's confusion heightened. "I can feel her."

"How many times of late? Can you still call her?" Bill asked.

"Not right now, but that's just because she's blocking me."

"Is it?"

"Yes – yes, it is. Do not think to take Pam away from me Bill – it will not work." Her best quality had always been her loyalty, he reminded himself. And she loved him far too much to leave him. Except...

"I already have," The king shrugged. "Now, to official business. Are you ready to return to your area?" Bill changed the subject as if the two of them had just discussed what they had had for lunch that day. "If you're not then I can find someone who is."

"No, I'm ready," said Eric feeling utterly castrated. He had already lost his progeny to Bill. After all he had had to do to defend Area 5; he was not going to lose that as well. He needed a base from which to get Pam back from.

Bill begun talking; Eric knew that because he saw his lips moving. But he heard nothing. Policies changes, taxes, true death warrants, minor misdemeanours and escapes. Nothing interested him. Where was she?

For the first time in weeks, he pushed through the bond he had with Pam. For all the confidence he had replied to Bill with, he doubted himself. He had to know he could still reach her.

XXX

Upstairs, Pam awoke with a jolt, yet peacefully. For one moment, she forgot the past eight weeks – the past six months really. She was in her bed at home. It must be time to get up to go to the club if Eric was calling her already.

Stretching, she rubbed her eye, before sitting up in her bed to find she was not in her bed – well, she was. But she was in her bed at the old Compton House.

Because she was the Queen of Louisiana now. She was Bill's queen. And she had not spoken to her maker for two months.

Has she felt him? She wasn't sure any more... she had been asleep at the time, and she had dreamt more than once that he would come back to her. In those dreams, she had found peace. But never had one of them disturbed her so much.

She considered trying to reach him through there bond. Just to know she was not at long last going mad. But there it was again! A tug... he _was_ calling her!

"Eric," she said breathlessly as a smile turned her lips up. He had come to her. Without thinking of the implications of his or her own actions over the past few months, she vamped it down the stairs to the door which would lead her into her husband's office, where she was beyond doubt, her maker also was.

Her hand lingered on her door handle, uncertainty. If she opened it, then she had to be prepared for the fact even though he had called her, Eric was probably not going to be overjoyed to see her. If he was with Bill, he _knew_ beyond a doubt.

But at that moment, a chance to see him over powered her nerves about seeing him. She had thought he'd been gone for good.

Yet...he'd left her! Without so much of a goodbye... and with that thought, she hated him once more. How dare he do that to her? His companion of over one hundred years... her conflicted heart tortured her.

But she needed to see his face still, despite the hatred she felt.

Opening the door, she kept her eyes on the carpet momentarily, before raising them. Bill was sitting behind his desk, Eric standing in front, apparently having refused to sit.

"Eric, please met the new Queen of Louisiana," she heard Bill say from a very long way away.

"Your majesty," Eric nodded to her mockingly. She just had no idea what she was meant to say to that. She had no idea.

She who always knew what to do and how to say – for he had taught her well. Yet suddenly, she was stumped. Part of her wanted to scratch his eyes out. The other part wanted to throw herself on his mercy for forgiveness. And the other part of her just was too tired to come up with a plan.

"You're queen is very lovely tonight," Eric grinned. Pam had come down so quickly she had not thought to change out of her flimsy pink night dress. She hadn't even put a gown over it. She certainly was not looking as cool and collected as she hoped too.

"Why don't you go-"

"Your majesty, an urgent call for you." The aid clearly had no idea what she had been walking in on, the door having been opened without so much as a knock.

"Go take it Bill," said Pam, rediscovering her voice. "I'll take care of things here."

The king looked slightly nervous over leaving the maker and progeny alone, but knew Pam was a big girl - she was more than able to take care of herself, and it had been her suggestion.

"I won't be long," he nodded as he went out the door to the right of his desk, leaving Eric and Pam alone.

"How dare you?" Eric asked as soon as Bill was out of the room. "HOW DARE YOU?"

"You surprise me, Eric," she said with her usual coolness returned. He knew he was giving her just what she wanted – a reaction. But his rage was uncontrollable. "My name is not Sookie, thank god. Why should you care what I do, you haven't for the past two months."

"You're place is not to question my actions."

"No, it's to sit at home like a good little girl and to wait till you can be bothered with me. Well, guess what Eric? I am through with it! I am_ so_ done!" she said exasperated. "I had no idea if you were even coming back."

"Don't be so stupid, it does not do you justice. You knew I was coming back."

"For the club perhaps – but not for me."

"Yes for you, you idiot girl!" he said and he looked into her eyes and saw the pain his words were causing her. He was glad. But only for a moment before she turned away. When he thought of what they had been through over the past century – and what she had been through over the past six months. He felt no pleasure in her pain; not really. Only a momentary victory. "Pam, as your maker, I command you to look at me," he said when she turned away – he was relieved to see she had to do it against her will. She was not released – nor would she ever be.

Raising his hand, he gently stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers tenderly.

"You never even said goodbye," She muttered under her breath. She had had to say the words, but she had not wanted him to hear them – her pride had wanted to deny him the satisfaction. Her heart had betrayed her. Tears tried to escape her eyes – but she would not allow him to see her cry for him. That was a step too far.

"I was angry – what you did..."

"I would do all over again," she said stepping back and out of his reach, her anger hitting him once more like a wave on a beach during a storm. "Don't you dare come in expecting an apology, you won't get it."

"You disobeyed me!"

"I had too – for fucks sake, Eric, just so I know; where has Sookie put your balls exactly? Did she cut them off? Are they her earrings now?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Smack. One moment Pam had been up right on her feet, the next she was on the floor with a stinging cheek.

"I am your maker Pam; you will NOT speak to me in that manner. Nor will you speak against Sookie." He hissed in her ear, bending down.

"I meant no –" _I didn't want to disrespect you; but you have pushed me too it_. "And I will speak against her. I **hate** her, Eric, I _hate_ **her**! I hate what she's done to you. I wish we'd never come to Louisiana."

"But we did."

"Yes – and now we can never be as we were. I can never..." she shook her head as she sat up. "I _idolised_ you. You _were_ my hero. You changed my life for the better... and now I wish that you'd walked on by that night... for I cannot bare the way I see you now."

"The feeling is mutual in this second in time."

The four small words he used pieced her heart; they were said with such feeling, for he knew she didn't regret being changed. Yet, she couldn't say for sure now that he didn't wish he had hadn't picked her. "I changed you, Pam, because you had spirit. Look at what you've turn my best creation into. Marriage to Bill Compton, a small man with small ideals – a man of the type you used to loath." He taunted her as his fingers returned to her cheek before straying to her ear. Blood spots were on it.

"The bleeds already," the concern in his voice was just about audible, even to her. He couldn't hide it completely. She turned to face him. He shook his head. "Enjoy your marriage, for it will not last. You. Are. Mine, Pamela. You belong to me. My most prized-"

"Possession." She was just something he owned, like Fangtasia, like the house, or the cars. He didn't care for her. She could see it now.

Had it all been in her head? The past century...

Chuckling, he bent down and kissed her, a cold unwelcome kiss.

"I took Sookie to Rome." He whispered as Bill came back into the room.

Her head twisted, her body tightened and her eyes looked at him in disbelief. So that was how much she meant to him after all. Sacrilege! Sacrilege of all they had been through! Sacrilege of those early years together!

Of the happiest time of her life...

_That month..._

"Sweetheart, what are you doing down there?" asked Bill, returning to the room as Eric rose. Pam thought it was pretty obvious.

As soon as he saw his queen on the floor, Bill went to her side. "I think it is time for you to be going Sheriff Northman," the king ordered as he took his queens hand. Neither Pam nor Bill missed Eric's twitch when he saw the two of them touch. "Remember what I said about the meeting and please be here on time for it sheriff. These are perilous times we live in."

Meeting? What fucking meeting? Peril?

Why the hell hadn't he listened to Bill earlier?

Even then though, his progeny was the only thing he could see. But he was not going to give them the satisfaction of knowing that.

"Very well, your majesties." Eric said as his lips curled. Pam now stood at the king's side, with Bill's hand about her, drawing her close to him. Her own expression was unreadable suddenly. "I shall tell Sookie you asked after her Bill," Eric attempted one last cheap shot.

"Please do. Tell Miss Stackhouse I hope she is well and I only wish the best for her, but as I am sure both of you will appreciate, my main concern now is my wife."

_Please review!_


	5. The Aftermath

**Chapter 5**

Pam collapsed on to the bed, her entire body tingling, a soft smile on her suddenly girly features. Oh yes she enjoyed being queen...

"You know, you've almost turned me straight again," she said as she rolled into Bill's arms, her naked skin against his. Whoever knew marriage to Bill Compton could be so satisfying? She certainly hadn't.

"Almost?" asked Bill amused with a raised eyebrow. "You realise that's the nicest thing you have said to me since we got married?"

"What can I say; I'm just an old romantic at heart," she mocked yet allowed him to hold her. Putting her head on his chest, she wondered where she would be without him and the exact moment and time when she had made the decision to trust him. It certainly hadn't been a conscious decision, but when he kissed her forehead, she felt a security that she had longed for.

The silence between the two of them didn't last long. "Tonight can't have been pleasant for you," he said with sympathy in his voice.

"I know he is alive and well. That was enough. The rest of it didn't matter," she lied to him.

"Was that last sentence slightly treasonable?"

"Possibly, but you've had your fill of emotion from me today, pumpkin."

He nodded, but held on to her still.

It was funny. When he had suggested they wed, she had thought he had cracked up – but then if that was the case, so had she. As odd as it was, she felt like she was his wife... which was possibly the shittiest thought she had ever had. Of course she felt like his wife, she _was_ his wife.

Yet someone, against her will and judgement, it seemed to be turning into something which went a bit deeper. Only a bit.

"Was the call real? Was it urgent?" she questioned. She was glad she had been left on her own with Eric – but she had to know she and Bill were reading from the same page.

"Oh yes, it was both," he said and she saw a troubled expression come over his face.

"What was it? What's wrong?"

"George Ogden – a vamp who lives in Area 2 has gone missing. Originally, he was turned in the Second World War; he came from England – like you. But he hasn't been seen for four nights."

"Russell?"

"It's one of my theories. But we can't jump on that. I don't know his personal circumstances, anything may have happened. He may have left on his own free will, there's no sign of a struggle, but then there doesn't have to be, does there?"

"So witchcraft is suspected too? Great – can I just say this; I am so over that shit."

He chuckled softly as his hand brushed up and down her bare back. "Well, so am I, my queen. But I'm his king, I have to look into it to a degree, even if it is Sheriff Kerr's responsibility really," he shrugged. "Nothing can be left to chance or unexplained, Pam; not at the moment."

Pam felt shivers go down her spine as for the first time she really recognised her position. She was the Queen of Louisiana. For the first time it hit her, she was Bill's closest confident. She was his wife – no one was closer to the king than she was, especially not at that moment. When politics became too much, he was going to confide in her. _His wife_.

Never again would she have to guess. Suddenly, she was at the centre of everything. She had power. And she liked it.

Pushing herself up the bed, she cupped Bill's cheek and kissed his lips deep. She felt his lips curve into a smile and the hand on her back pulled her closer.

"What was that for?"

She shook her head. "I told you – no more emotion from me tonight. If you can't interpret it on your own then you're nothing, William Compton."

He chuckled and the two of them went back to the previous comfortable silence, his lips inches from her forehead as she curled around him.

They had again been laying there for five minutes, Bill strumming his fingers soothingly through her hair, when he moaned out and ran a hand through his own hair. Looking down at his alerted wife, he saw the question in her eyes.

"Jess," he explained tiredly. "She's still struggling with her emotions – she has been so shook up of late."

"Go to her," Pam said, immediately throwing the sheet off the two of them. "If she needs you, go to her. No fucking way are you treating her the same way Eric treats me."

He looked at her, admiring her values and beliefs (for once). "You're not such a wicked step mother after all," he said as he put on his dressing gown. "I won't be long. Stay here; we'll sleep side by side today, my queen," he said pushing his lips to hers one last time.

The fact she did as she was told and did not protest was duly noted.

XXX

Eric returned to Sookie's, but he did not go inside at once, due to the fact, for the first time since she had chosen him, he did not know if he wanted to see her. His emotions were suddenly spiralling out of control... and he felt...

Lost... like someone had smashed his chest in. His confused, dazed expression was testament to that.

_I'm sorry to tell you this but as soon as Marnie put the spell on you, you lost your ownership of Pamela... Do not think to take Pam away from me Bill – it will not work... I already have... as I am sure both of you will appreciate, my main concern now is my wife..._

Snatches of a conversation that he wished had never had to take place. A conversation which had changed everything.

He had known what he was doing when he had left Pam... Had he set out to hurt her even more than she had been already? Perhaps... no, not perhaps... _he had_.

He had denied her his presence to bring her to heal once more. And it hadn't worked.

That she would go off with Bill had not darkened his worst dreams. One hundred years of love and devotion destroyed in two months by his own pig ignorance. He hadn't meant to taunt her... and he hadn't wanted to drive her away.

Sookie had been so new and exciting. He had been so infatuated... the fact that she had that power over him after one thousand years on this earth spoke for itself. But he never would have agreed to pay this price.

It was too much.

XXX

Sookie Stackhouse smiled at her wardrobe. She was not, nor would she ever be a particularly materialistic person, but it did feel nice that she had some pretty new clothes. Not all of them had been brought by Eric either. It could not rival the wardrobe of a women such as Portia Bellefleur, but it made her feel good.

Shutting the doors, she considered putting a wash on, but when she checked the clock, it was eleven thirty.

That had been two hours ago. Now, Sookie was worried. For one thing, Eric had said he was going to be back so much sooner.

And then she had begun to feel what he was feeling. At first, she had been just slightly aware that he had felt something was a little off balance. The first time she had really paid much attention to it was about half an hour after he had left and she had assumed it was just because the two of them were not together. After all, she was not sure she felt right without him. Not when the two of them had got so close, so quickly.

But then his concern had turned into worry and then to confusion. Then he had been angry and to her own concern, he had been jealous.

And that had been the one she had had the hardest time with. There was no other man near her at that moment - what cause did he have to be jealous?

Then at long, long last, she felt him close.

Going over to the door that was going to lead her out to the garden, she was relieved to see his face.

"What's gone on?" she questioned, trying not to be upset that he had been so late and that he had got jealous over another women.

Yet, he did not speak. He did not even seem to have heard her. And he had a dangerous quality to him that night- she had not seen him thus in a long time.

Going over to him, she put her hands gently on his cheeks. "What's wrong?"

"She married without my consent – she as good as left me, and yet I can't blame her. Sookie, I've treated her terribly."

She shook her head. "Who?"

A flash of fury crossed his face... and he realised partly how little she knew him. Pam wouldn't have had to ask who. Wasn't it obvious?

"My progeny – my daughter –my _friend_," he said with passion.

"Pam – what the fuck? Who has she married?" Sookie asked with a genuine look of shook.

It was then he realised she was could be hurt by the news he had come baring. He had to tell her Bill - the first man she had ever claimed to love – was married.

The man she had only just given up.

"The king of Louisiana."

The look on her face was unreadable and he could not put a word to what she was feeling. Yet hurt was in there.

And confusion. Just eight weeks before hand he had been the one to say she was the love of his wife and so for him to go and marry another woman so soon – well, it _was _confusing.

But he hated her for feeling those things. He had given up his – his lovely, petulant, exciting daughter, mother, lover for her. He had given up his best friend. And he had hurt her, to be with Sookie. She had no right to feel those things. Not over a vamp she had known five minutes.

"But it is not as if the two of them even like one another. I don't understand," she said at long last and he shrugged his shoulders.

Planting her with only a quick kiss on her forehead, he walked into the house and quickly to the cubby. "I'm going to ground. It has been a very long night."

"Shall I come down with you for a while?" she did not know why she had had to ask the question. She knew what he was going to say before he had said it.

"Not tonight. I need to rest." The thousand year Viking admitted. He had to rest and he had to plan.

He had to come up with something that was going to bring_ her _back to him.

Sookie could only watch with disappointed eyes as Eric got in the cubby and went to be dead for the day. She had so needed him to hold her after what he had just said – yet, he had left her on her own. Again.

When he had returned, she had hoped he might be able to shares the problems he was having with her.

But apparently not.

Her mind wondered to what he had told her. Bill had married Pam. It seemed too ludicrous for words. When she thought of the way the two of them had treated one another over the years. The two of them had _never _liked one another... and so what on earth were they playing at?

Yet, the most worrying thing was the thought the two of them might not be playing at all.

_Please review!_


	6. The Sheriffs of Louisiana

**Chapter 6**

When Eric got up the next day, the first thing that he felt was regret. Regret for the way he had been with Pam. Regret for the fact he had left when she had needed him (possibly, looking back, more than she ever had before save one time). Regret for the taunting he had done the night before. Regret for the fact he was yet to hold her in his arms since he had returned from Italy.

And, yes... regret for the way he had been with Sookie when he had got in the night before.

Whatever had gone on between himself and his progeny, he had no right to bring her in to it. She was something different entirely and when he had thought of the time the two of them had so far shared, he could only smile.

She was a wonderful woman. But that was not the way he had treated her the day before.

Getting up, he quickly dressed into a black T shirt and a light grey suit. He had a lot of work to do that night, for he had to go and sort things at Fangtasia (needless to say he had done nothing the night before after he had found out about Pam) and he had to call his lawyer.

Even if Bill had said his union with Pam was legal, Eric was not going to let it rest until he knew that was the case for sure.

If that plan came up as a dead end in his quest to get his Pam back, then he would have to look into an alternative route and then another if necessary until he got her back. For now though, that was his path.

He had to be logical about what had gone on. He could not carry on as he had the night before letting his emotions get the better of him. He did not like to think of what Godric would have said if he had seen him the night before. Where had all his training gone? Well, to waste the previous night.

But this night was a new day as it were and he was going to start afresh.

He would put his life back to the way it should be, piece by piece.

Starting with Sookie.

He lazily flew out of the cubby before walking in to the kitchen. She was there.

"I was worried you would have gone to work before I was up," he said to her, leaning against the door frame.

"Believe me, I thought about it," she said and he knew he had hurt her. "But I was on a day shift any way," she shrugged.

Going over to her, he put his arms about her. "I am so sorry for last night."

"I should think so too. Just because you're pissed at Pam, don't take it out on me," she said, recalling how when she had got into bed she had realised how cold he had been with her when he had come in. The way he had looked at her, the way he had felt towards her... it had stung.

He flinched as if she had hurt him and she understood his jealousy. She did not think that Pam as women was as attractive to Eric as she herself was, but neither did she think he liked the idea of her being with another man. Another woman was ok... Eric could never rival that...

But another man.

"Sookie, I have said I was wrong. Please just accept that..."

She nodded, knowing that no matter how he had treated her since the two of them had got back, it was only because he had had a hard time.

Allowing him to hold on to her, he was relieved as she cuddled into him.

"Remind me why we had to come back to Bon Temps?" asked Sookie.

"Because this is where our lives are..."

Eric sat with Sookie while he had a Tru blood and she had an ice tea. The reconciliation continued up to the point that Sookie asked Eric to wake her for that shower when he returned.

He could only smile as if he was the cat who got the cream.

He vamped his way to the club, making it there just before opening. Chow was already in Fangtasia and he was looking rather sheepish after the way he had been found the night before.

"I want you on door duty tonight, the girls can take over the bar – get Gin-" he paused. No, Chow could not get _Ginger _to do anything. "Get Kristy to open up the bar," he said, and before Chow was able to respond, Eric walked into his office.

Even if things were very different to the way they had been the last time he had spent a night at the club, he was glad to be there.

Fangtasia was his baby; it was not going to leave him or command him. It was not going to up and move while he had his back turned. Here, King Bill had no power over him. And here was the place he was going to work from to get his other baby back.

Sitting down at his desk, for the first time that night, he admitted to himself that a huge whole was in his life all of a sudden. As much as he did love Sookie, she was never going to be able to complete him. Pam did that, and she had done so ever since they had first met all those years ago in London.

He recalled how he had been near instantly attracted to her. She was beautiful, of course, but he understood right away, that what he felt for her – it went deeper.

His first thought had been that he was going to make her his human for a couple of years. But a couple of years with such a woman would never have been enough for him. He knew he would want her for longer, more than once...

And he would not have been able to bare it if he had returned to London years later and their paths had crossed. Even then when she was a vampire, the thought of her aging disgusted him. When he thought of wrinkles on her face and a sickness in what would have been her frail body, over taking her and killing her...

No - he had wanted to preserve her as she had been when she was young.

And he knew it was selfish – but he had done so for himself, not so that she might go off on her own and leave him. He had lived in nests before, in his thousand years he had lived in many different ways. But never had he felt the desire to stay with someone as he did with his progeny.

_His._

Picking up the phone, he called his lawyer. One way or another, he would bring her back to him, once and for all.

XXX

Pam had gone for a more conservative look that day. She wanted to look serious and helpful to his majesty when the new sheriffs came all together for the first time. Of course, it was going to give Eric his best evening since Christmas, her all dressed up like a republican housewife.

Still, she quite liked the pink dress and pearls look. It made her look less obvious. Some of the most fun she had in the days when vamps were still _able_ to have fun had been when she had been rocking the 'I would not hurt a fly,' look.

"Cheeto," she said as she walked down the hall to see Jess having dressed less – Jess like. The red head was in a denim skirt and spotted blouse, neither were too short or too tight.

_Oh my, she looks like a republican teenager... could it be?_

"You're staying into meet the sheriffs tonight?" she clicked on quickly.

"Well, I thought I might as well," Jess admitted. "Bill is going through a lot of intense shit at the moment," she shrugged, a gesture the baby vamp had not yet lost from her teenage human life.

It was what she was not saying that she heard loudest though. That Jess felt somewhere deep down that she was needed by her maker. That he would want her there, even if she said nothing. After what Pam knew had been a very rough start, it seemed as if daddy Bill had got the respect and love of his daughter after all.

"That's one way to put it," said Pam as she walked on by to the upstairs office to see how Bill was that night.

Pam did not see the look of admiration Jess gave her as she walked on by. She did not hear her think that this was about the closet she had ever got to a normal family life and she would never know that Jess wished the three of them could live as they were then for a very long time to come.

"Good morning," said Pam as she went in to her husband's office, wondering where the fuck her sudden politeness had come from - probably him. He was such a good time southern boy that apparently she wanted to pretend to be a belle.

Not.

She wondered what Eric would say if she had greeted him thus. He probably wanted to know where the fuck his Pam had gone which _was_ probably what he was thinking right then, incidentally...

But Bill did not look up from what he was writing- apparently it was very important.

Going over to his side, she ran a hand through is hair.

"Oh," he said as he looked up and gave her a smile. "Morning, sweetheart."

"Busy already?"

"There is no rest for the wicked," he shook his head.

"What time are the sheriffs due to get here?" she asked. She had to say she was rather looking forward to their arrival. Though she had been queen for a few weeks she had done relatively little official work.

Perhaps that was due to the fact at the beginning Bill had not been as trusting towards her as he was then. But now... well, it seemed very much as if it was time for her to step up and take her place at his side, something she was actually going to relish doing.

"One," he replied.

"You know Jess is going to stay here tonight and help out as well?" she said and that made him look up. He had a genuine smile on his face – a look of a proud father indeed.

It made her heart ache.

"Is she really?"

"Yes – she thinks you need her by your side. And so do I, for what it is worth. She is growing more loyal to you by the day, Bill."

"Thankfully, both you girls seem to be," he mused. "Well, it is a good thing to. We're practically a family now and I want the world to know that Louisiana is not running scared of Russell. I have sent out word through the appropriate channels. It is not going to be a lot longer until Russell is match fit. We have to band together if we are going to survive this."

"We're getting outside aide?"

"Mainly from the authority, but some of our fellow queens and kings have been quiet generous about putting sheriffs and man power at our disposal wherever they can spare them. They're going to be here by tomorrow."

She nodded. "Of course they have; they want Louisiana to bear the brunt of the bullshit, that's why."

"Well, yes, I did work that one out for myself, Pam – but I am still grateful. We stand a much better chance at betting Edgington if we have reinforcements."

"Do you think we are going to beat him?" she asked with a genuine curiosity in her voice. The two of them knew they had to be practical. He was three thousand years old. And their ages put together did not even make four hundred yet.

"We have to try. I want Jess to make a century, a thousand years if she can. And I am not going to let you down either!"

It hit her then he was nothing if not a man of his time still. He had a wife and a daughter and he was going to do his best to make sure they were safe.

"I'll go make sure everything is ready for the sheriff's arrival," she said as she got up from where she had been sitting on the edge of his desk.

"Thank you darling."

As she left, the phone in the office rang. "Hello?" he asked.

"You're Majesty; there is someone in the downstairs office to see you."

"Who might that be?"

"A Miss Stackhouse sir," the deep voice replied.

Bill froze. In truth, he had always known he was going to have to face Sookie one day after he had got married – but he had to admit she had caught him off guard that day. He did not know why – he had just not been expecting it, even though he knew Eric must have told her the news.

"Very well, tell her I will be down immediately," He replied to the body guard. "And it would be best if no one was to mention our visitor to the queen."

Bill could only hope Pam did not smell her.

He realised he wanted Sookie to be out of the palace as soon as she could be, for fear her presence there was going to upset the happy plateaux he had arrived at with Pam and Jess. The day he had married her, he had made a pledge to himself he was going to be the best husband as well as the best maker he could be. It had been a new beginning, which someone where along the way had turned into a kind of renaissance.

Part of him was always going to love Sookie Stackhouse, of that he was sure. She had helped him remember his humanity which was a priceless gift in his eyes. But she was never again going to come before the pair he had begun thinking of as his girls.

Taking an unnecessary deep breathe, he went into the room once he had vamped it down the stairs.

"It is nice to see you Sookie," He greeted her and in truth, it was. He had always found Sookie to be a very pretty young lady.

But she had a look on her face which told him he was in trouble with her and he did not need three guesses why.

"You married Pam?" she asked; the fact the news was still shocking her was in his voice and all over her face.

"I did – I take it that is your congratulations, in which case I thank you kindly."

"But you do not even like her!" she protested.

"I will not deny that in the past, the queen and I did not always see eye to eye – but I have seen a very different side of her of late and I can assure you I do like her. I like her very much."

"But she – she is so mean sometimes."

"When she gets scared, when she feels trapped."

"More like when she wakes up in the night and when she – she's just mean... I can't believe she is what you want. I know you, Bill Compton. I know why you are really doing this."

"Please, enlighten me."

"The two of you cooked this up between you to get back at Eric for what he did when he left her, which even I know was a mistake; we both know it was wrong," she said – it was the only theory she had so she had to go with it. She was sorry now for what they had done, for the trouble they had returned too.

"I see you credit the two of us with no imagination at all. Sookie, the two of us are vampires. If all we wanted to do was get back at Northman then I promise you we would come up with something immensely more fun than being married to one another. As it is, do you really want to know why I married her?"

Sookie nodded.

"Because, deep down, there is an actually quite beautiful soul inside of her. She is a sarcastic hard faced bitch ninety percent of the day, that much I will concede. But the other ten percent..." he stopped. He had always believed something's should be private between a man and his wife and he knew Pam would hate him talking to Sookie of all people about their union.

"Suffice to say, I married my wife because I care for her deeply and I think the two of us will do very well together... Sookie, I fail to see how it is any of your concern to be frank."

She opened her mouth as if to reply and then shut it before opening it again. "Because this whole thing is tearing Eric apart."

"Well, then he should have thought how his actions impacted his progeny. Not my problem." He shrugged.

Suddenly it seemed a very long time since that night when he had met her at Merlottes. And he did know how he felt for her just then. She had brought some thing in him back to life when the two of them had first met...

But it was in that moment he began to understand just how true what he had said to Eric was. Pam and Jess were his main concerns and suddenly they both came far above Sookie in his life.

"I think _it is _time for you to go," he said with a heavy sigh.

He was not going to have the tranquillity of the palace upset because she did not approve of his choice. It had nothing to do with her anyway.

XXX

By the time that the sheriffs had arrived, Pam had helped Jess decide to wear a mint green dress that fell done to just above her knees. In the end, she had not felt so comfortable in the shirt and skirt. With Pam's help, she looked more comfortable as well as more stylish.

"Looking good Cheeto," the queen praised as she went to get the door for the first sheriff. Bill waited for them in the living room for them.

"My queen," said the heavy set vamp as he was ushered through to the living room Pam.

"Sherriff," she replied as they entered the room.

"Ahh, Sheriff Kerr," her husband said as they came into the room. "I do hope you are getting to the bottom of the Ogden business!"

To Pam it had been only too clear it had been weighing on Bill's mind – well, it was bound to wasn't it?

"I am working on it, your majesty," said the new sheriff, who was clearly unhappy that his area was having trouble so early into his tenure there.

"I am sure you are," Bill nodded as the door bell rang once more.

Over all, Bill seemed pretty well satisfied with the choices he had made the replace the sheriffs they had lost in the war against witchcraft, Pam mused. He had not voiced any concerns over whether they were up to the job to her. The only one who had survived it had, _thankfully_, been Eric.

An aide came in with the other three new sheriffs at that point – their punctuality was going to go in their favour.

"Ahh, I do not think the three of you gentleman have had the honour of yet meeting my wife or my progeny so let me introduce you," Bill offered.

Pam observed them and she could not say she was too disappointed, though it did occur to her that Bill had not chosen one woman for his new regime. She might have to take that up with him later.

"This is my progeny, Jessica Hamby." Bill nodded to Jess and gave her an affection smile. "And this is the new queen of Louisiana, Pamela Swynford De Beaufort."

The three of them nodded to her with respect and once more, she could only think about how much she enjoyed being queen, the reverence and the status that it brought. She had never had that before.

Yet... There was something within her which missed Fangtasia... life before she came to the palace. The fan bangers and the merchandise, the music...

"Jess, Pam, may I introduce to you, Sherriff George Robinson, Sherriff Henry Fitzroy as well as Sherriff Quentin Roosevelt."

As Pam looked at the new recruits to the state of Louisiana she could only hope her husband had chosen wisely – all of their lives hung in the balance, after all.

Her eyes wondered to Jess – she had so much more of life to see... What the actual fuck? She asked herself wondering when she had become – _god forbid_ – maternal over the little Cheeto.

"Well gentleman, I am sure I do not have to tell you how serious our situation is," Pam said and she saw Bill nod approvingly of what she was saying. "Just as soon as we are joined by Sheriff Northman, we can begin."

XXX

Eric got on quietly and efficiently with his work that night at the club. He had plenty to do after eight weeks away. Now he was home, he was beginning to be wonder what he had been possessed by to think of staying away so long.

Chow had completely messed up the invoices – god only knew how long he was going to be stuck at his desk...

If he had left Pam in charge, he wouldn't have come back to this mess he knew. She had done well when he had had amnesia...

One day he promised himself, he'd make it all up to her.

But for now certainly didn't see himself getting back to Bon Temps a lot before sun rise – he'd leave just in time to spend some time with Sook before going to ground.

_Please review!_

**Author Note:** Sorry this one took a while guys: I am back at university in my final year so updates will be slower, but they will be coming, I promise.

**A Note on the new Sheriffs of Louisiana** (_some spoilers for the books up to Dead in The Family coming up_): Ok, so Bill needed new sheriffs after season 4 when all but Eric met the True Death. My initial thought was to just put in four fictional characters, but then I started thinking (always dangerous) about the books. I LOVE Bubba, and I love Eric's brother (trying not to say too much, but you book readers know who I mean.) The inclusion of these characters, for me as a history GEEK is just another reason why I adore the books; it just gives them another layer, authenticity and makes the world Harris creates all the more believable. Following that tradition then, I have put in two characters straight from history. Sherriff Henry Fitzroy was the bastard son of Henry VIII and Bessie Blount and Sherriff Quentin Roosevelt was the son of President Theodore Roosevelt. Both these men died tragically young, Fitzroy from tuberculosis and Roosevelt in WWI. They are now 'back' to help kick Russell's backside.

So what do you guys think? Good idea, or stick to having purely fictional sheriffs? Kerr and Robinson are straight out my head...


	7. A Welcomed Return

**Chapter 7**

Pam did not know why she felt so angry that Eric had not bothered to show up the night before. Maybe it was because he had missed his chance to flaunt his status above the other sheriffs. Maybe it was that she felt as her maker, the queens maker, he should have been there on time for her, though why she had expected that she didn't know. It had just been humiliating; what with the others _knowing_ he was her maker. Or maybe it was that he had made_ Bill_ look like a fool.

Whatever it was, as she woke up the next day, she was not in a forgiven mood.

"Are you ok?" a small voice asked her as soon as she came round.

Ginger.

"Seriously not in the mood today – piss off," she said as she rolled over and felt her heart sink. Of all the people in the world to have a go at, she had chosen he only one whose loyalty she did not have to question.

Great.

"I didn't mean that."

"I know. Do you want a drink?" Ginger offered, knowing that it would help her mistress if she was to feed. As her meal, Ginger knew how much she had. Though she did not consider herself to be an expert, she did not think Pam had had enough of late for a vamp of her age.

That was why she had had the bleeds early. That was why she was as tired as a human all the time.

"No – if I do then I would take it from one of the donors – I've had enough of you lately. Have you had your vitamins?"

"Yes," Ginger said as she stayed beneath the covers. Why Pam was giving her this bull shit over her own health was beyond her. She was sure she was fine to supply her with blood if that was what she needed. She did not like the thought of Pam drinking from another.

God only knew she had to get up, Pam mused as she lay there. It was going to be another big night. "The sheriffs who are coming to help us from the other states arrive tonight."

"I know."

"It s all moving so fast."

"We have to stay ahead of Russell."

"Indeed we do. Draw me a bath Ginger - I am going to be pissed by the end of tonight if just one of those sheriffs thinks their own queen as a superior sense of style to me by the end of the night."

She had to say she was hoping that night was going to be a bit more fun than the previous one. All they had talked about was Edgington. Quite frankly it had got dull. She was an immortal - the idea that someone was hell bent on killing her and those she loved did not settle well within her. It didn't seem possible that it could happen either – part of her saw it as a joke even though she knew how serious things were becoming.

Rising, she put on her bath robe while her human did as she had ordered. When she had someone to bark orders at, she felt more like the queen Bill had made her. If he actually bothered to turn up that night, Eric would_ see_ that queen too she promised herself.

But then why should that bother her, why should he bother her? It was not as if he cared. Running a hand through her hair, she sighed.

If she was human, then she would still have a black eye from where he had knocked her down the other night. For all the fact he lived in a modern age, Eric had never been a particularly modern man. He had raised his hand to her before when she had been petulant.

But somehow it had been different that time. The two of them had not yet made up from it. And she had no idea when they were going too.

Where the hell had he been the night before and who did he think he was that he could just disobey his king as he had?

True, when she had first heard that Bill was king she had laughed with Eric. The idea of the confederate soldier giving orders to her Viking vampire god had been hilarious.

But now she was his wife, her loyalties had changed.

Viking vampire god or not, Eric was a subject of Louisiana. As such, he had to bend the knee to his king.

Picking a hair brush up, she begun to run it through her hair while she waited for her bath to run. She always felt better when she had had a nice long soak.

"Sweetheart?" the voice of her husband called through the door as he nodded.

"Come in," she called throwing the brush on the bed. "What can I do you for this fine evening pumpkin?"

"Well," Bill said as his mind went to the gutter at the sight of his wife in nothing but her dressing gown. "More than you might guess, if only I had the time... but I am on my way to try and locate our Mr. Northman and see what the hell he was playing at last night."

"Well, I certain l would not want to district you from that!"

"No," chuckled Bill. "I do not suppose you would. Do you know where he is? I do not feel much like going to the club just to find he is not there."

She knew as well as he did he was just trying to avoid asking her if he was at Sookie's. If she could feel he was that close yet so far from her.

"He is at his house in Bon Temps," she said with a greater civility than he had come to expect of her where it came to the telepathic waitress.

"Right, well I am going to be back well before the sheriffs get here, they are due at half past two - I am going to be speaking to them at four –"

"I know the schedule, pumpkin. You go do what you have to," she said to him with confidence and he nodded.

"See you later, sweetheart."

Bill walked down the stairs and opened the door before vamping it over to the old Stackhouse place. He had not thought to have to see Sookie so soon after the day before. But when a subject disobeyed his king... well, he had no choice.

He sighed, knocking on the door. She was going to know it was him.

"I do not know what the hell you think you are doing here after the way you spoke to me," she said as she opened the door.

Her grandmother had always taught her that she was a lady and she had the right to expect to be treated like one. What Bill had said and done to her the day before had not made her feel as if she was much of a lady.

"I need to see my sheriff on business," the king said.

Due to his sensitive hearing, he knew Eric knew exactly what he was saying no matter how far away he was in the house.

"Then in that case you should send a message to him to come to the palace," Eric declared as he came up behind Sookie protectively. He put his hands on her waist.

"Well, I would but you don't seem to want to follow my orders when I give them to you."

"What do you mean?" said Eric.

As far as he was concerned he had kept all his obligations to the king. He was not going to give him reason to be anger with him; not at the moment any way.

"Last night there was a meeting of the sheriffs of Louisiana's at the palace so that you might be able to get your new peers. So that we could begin to figure out how the hell we are meant to go on from here," said Bill to him as he felt his anger rise.

He did not know why though. When Eric had left the palace a couple of nights before he had known full well that he had not heard what he had said about the meeting. He had known he was not going to turn up the next night in his heart.

But he had not made another attempt to tell him.

The reasons for that had been two fold. A vampire king did not except to have to give orders to his own lieutenants and sheriffs more than once. As long as it followed the authority's laws, then the word of the monarch was law in their own territory.

It was not for them to run after their pissed off sheriffs even when they had been the one to piss said sheriff off.

He was almost ashamed of the other reason, but he was not going to lie to himself.

He was insecure about his wife. Part of him knew he was never going to have her the way that Eric had even as he stood before him. Eric knew every inch of Pam and she knew him like wise.

The two of them had been through more together than Bill could hope to go through with his wife in the next ten years. And as much as it might not seem to show to Eric at that moment, his progeny was still intensely loyal to him in her heart of hearts, in the deepest caverns of her questionable soul.

And so he was not going to aid Eric to rise in the opinion of his once worshipful progeny. If he was going to let her down then Bill was going to let him fall in her eyes.

He wanted Pam for himself – if that meant Eric lost all standing with her, then so be it.

Eric knew he had to figure out what was going on. At the back of his mind, he had been thinking all night since he had got up what Bill had meant when he had said they were in peril.

If they were, then he had to figure out a way to defend Sookie.

"What is going on?" he asked as his anger rose.

"Did you listen to nothing I said when you came to greet me two nights ago?"

"I heard a great deal but I am afraid, I did happen to be a little preoccupied with the fact that you had stolen my progeny at the time."

"I did not steal her – she came to me willingly. Very willingly."

"There is going to be plenty of time for the two of us to argue who was right over Pam later on, your majesty. Can you please just tell me what the fuck we are dealing with here?"

"The ex king of Mississippi, that is what the fuck we are dealing with," replied Bill.

"Russell Edgington? When did he – what the hell Bill, how long has he been back?"

"If you had given a thought to anything other than Sookie in the past two months then you would know the answer to all of those questions, which I did provide you with just the other night. I give you that Sookie is good - but she is not that good... get your mind on to something else for a change Sheriff Northman!"

Whatever Eric had thought Bill was going to say to him, it was not that. He had thought the two of them had got rid of the bastard for years to come – not just _a_ year.

How on earth had he not known about this – how had he taken the eye off of the ball this much? Part of him knew he had to blame himself – things were snow balling in such a fashion that he did not think there was a way he could excuse himself.

He was not meant to act in such a human way.

"Tonight, the sheriffs who are coming to aid Louisiana from across state boarders arrive. My queen and myself would be gratified if you would honour us with you presence," said Bill mockingly.

If Bill had not been there at that moment, then he would have put his head in his hands. He could only imagine what she was thinking. It was not as if she was going to be queen for long – but while she was he knew he had to play the game and he had to be there for her if he was to get her back. She had to at least think he began to approve – she had to think he was trying.

"I am so sorry, your majesty, for not attending last night. Please convey my message to her majesty and assure her I _will _attend tonight."

Bill looked at him – neither of them were fooled by what he said and he knew the king understood that they were both now playing mind games with the other.

"I will indeed pass your message along. I will see you later, Northman."

And just as soon as he had been there the king was gone, leaving Eric alone – or so he had thought.

As soon as he felt _that_ presence near, he felt himself calm. Edgington seemed somehow manageable. So did Pam. At once he was more rational and secure and the world made sense. This was a bond no one was going to try and block. This was a bond which was not going to reject him.

This was an honest and a true bond which was never going to be broken.

Not as long as the two of them walked at night.

His shoulders relaxed.

"I do not think I have ever been so glad to have you close... Godric."

_Please review!_


	8. Changed By Life

**Chapter 8**

As soon as he saw his maker, Eric fell to his knees out of respect. It struck him at that moment how different the relationship he had with his progeny was. Not even when she had been at her most loving and obedient, had Pam ever fallen to her knees before him.

Godric crossed to him and he could see the concern he felt for him in his eyes. Due to troubles in his own area, Godric had not had time to see his progeny of late but he had wanted to come to him a lot sooner than he had. Many years had passed since he had given Eric his freedom, though still there were days when he wished the two of them were as close as they had been when he had only just made Eric.

Of late though, he had felt more from Eric than he had at years; the most worrying of those had been blatant confusion. He had been on the brink of saying to hell with his own area and going to find Eric when he had felt a change in him. He had felt anger and hatred, neither of which he had approved. He knew Eric though. Anger and hate were part of the man he had changed and they were part of the vampire he had raised. He had come to accept that.

After the anger and the hate though, he had felt passion and he had felt love from his progeny. It had helped him settle himself down. He had thought he did not have to go to him after all.

And then he had felt the loneliness and the confusion and once again he felt once more the urge to go to the side of his progeny. He had had more than one progeny in his thousands years on the earth, but he had never felt for another he had felt for his Eric.

He was his son.

"Come here child," said Godric as he signalled for Eric to rise from the kneeling position he had fallen to when he had felt him close.

Eric did as he was told, as ever.

He wished Pam saw him as he did Godric. He wished he was half the maker that Godric was. If he was then he was sure he would have Pam with him right then.

And that thought was enough for him to feel his eyes well with the bloody tears he had been trying to keep in side for quite a while now.

It was not only over Pam that he felt so lost. But that he felt as if he had lost who he was when he had been cursed. He had been a different vampire then.

He remembered it all and it felt as if he was two people all of sudden.

One, who he had always been and who he had_ liked_ being. He had been powerful and he had been respected. And he had always looked after those who he loved the most.

Suddenly, he was this second Eric who had conflicted interests. When he had solely loved Pam his life had been so easy for he had been able to base his decisions on what was best for the two of them.

He did love Sookie. But she had made his life a lot harder. And he did not know if he loved her for that.

"It is all going to be well, my son," Godric told Eric tenderly.

Half of the reason that Eric had always loved his maker so much was that he had always been able to believe what he told him. If Godric said it was going to be well, then it was.

He did not think he had known how much he had wanted to see his beloved makers face until he had come to him. He had got so independent that he had not even thought of going to Godric.

But if he had, then he known that was what he would have wanted to do more than anything in the world.

And that was the way Pam had felt when he had walked away. That day when he had yelled at her and threatened to take her life, she had craved nothing more than to be held by him and unlike Godric, he had denied her.

The truth was at that moment he did not feel as if he was worthy of his maker or his progeny.

The two of them had always been so far above him. That was the way he felt then.

His eyes looked into the woods to the path that he knew was going to lead him to the palace and so to his heart.

"I have to go to her - I have to get her back," He said into the ear of his maker.

"What you have to do is tell me all what has gone on since I saw you in Dallas."

Pulling back, Godric looked into his eyes and he was saddened by the loneliness he found there.

"How did it come to be that our dear Pamela is a queen?"

XXX

Sookie had been so angry when she had felt Bill close that she had wanted to put his head in a bucket and kick it about the yard. She did not think she was ever going to understand men and the way that they worked. Much less likely was her ever understanding vamps properly.

The early days when she had been with Bill she had thought they were the happiest of her life. At last she had found a guy who she was able to be herself with, one hundred percent.

And then she came to Eric... He had been so desperate to have her for so long. He had made it clear to her. For so long, he had been going on at Bill about the way he was going to get her. She had thought he was an arrogant fool and then she had fallen for him.

And yet now... ever since the two of them had got home... She just felt as if he did not much care for at all.

When the two of them had gone to Dallas, Eric had told her not to talk about things she didn't understand.

And now as she looked out on him with his maker she wondered if he had been right after all. She felt as if she knew nothing about him in that moment as he broke down.

She had thought he was so distance because he had been angry. But now she just felt his overwhelming sadness and she knew he blamed her in part for that.

And somewhere deep within her, she had to acknowledge the fact the two of them had little future together.

He had been so loving to her when he had not had his memory. When he had no idea who anyone else he had been lovely. But then she had been his safe place to hide then.

Whatever that had been, it had not been real life. Pam and Godric and the club was his real life.

Only suddenly it was not – and he wanted his life back.

And she did not think she was ever going to be able to tell anyone how sad that made her – he was not yet gone but she did not serious think he was going to be hers for a lot longer now.

XXX

"I hit her – I have hit her before but this, this was different," said Eric as he recalled what had gone on when he had seen his progeny for last time. "She has never been so defiant. I thought when I got back that the two of us were going to get back to the way we were," he said with a shrug.

Godric for the moment said nothing. It took a lot to leave him speechless but what his son had said to him had.

He had known many makers and their progeny's in his time. He had come across all sorts of people and vamps. But of all of them he had met, he did not think he had ever known any with a stronger bond than what he shared with Eric and what Eric in turn shared with Pam.

"If that is the truth then I do not believe I thought you could be naive. How long have you walked this world, Eric? How many moons have you seen?"

Eric paused. "You're angry with me." He realised.

"I told you not so long after you made Pam that it was your duty to the there for her as I have been there for you. Being a maker is not to be taken lightly."

"I have never taken the commitment I made to her lightly," Eric snapped back at Godric and instantly regretted it.

If there was one vamp in the world that could – who he would _allow_ to pull rank over him – it was his maker.

He had not been like Pam. When he had been young, he had never gone through that petulant stage. Long had his maker been his friend and he did not wish to question him or be angry with him.

But he was as angry with the world as he was more angry at himself at that moment – apparently that was going to be taken out on every one.

"Eric, from what you have told me these past six months, we have all been taking our commitment a little more lightly than we should have. I am sorry for the fact I was not there for you when you needed me to be," said Godric, as he mulled over what he had been told by Eric about him losing his mind. He wished he had been there. For Pam and Eric, if for no one else.

Family was perhaps a too human term for what the three of them were to one another but even though he had been around for two centuries, it was the only word he had for what the three of them shared. And it seemed to him that his family had been fallen apart when he had not been looking of late. They had to find a way to put it back together before it was too late.

"There has never passed a day since you have made me when you have let me down," Eric declared as he put his hands on the shoulders of his maker. "I am a century old and therefore I should be able to take good care of myself."

"And yet?"

"It has been a long time since I have been as lost as I am art this moment. I think my father is the only one who can help me through this shadow," the Viking admitted as he looked at him.

"And you know I will, do you not? I will always be here to help you through any shadow. Whether it is the fog of losing Pam or this Edgington," He said putting his hand of Eric's cheek. "I notice a change in you. You spoke to me of personal matters of the heart before you did of the political when you were telling me the tale of the past few months."

"There was a time, Godric, I know, when you would have considered that to be a mortal sin. But life has changed you as it has changed me, has it not?"

"If we did not change then we would die."

"Yes, we would."

The two of them looked at one another. "I trust I can stay with you at your house until things are more settled."

Once more, Eric felt his shoulders relax. "Your presence is the only thing which will keep me sane."

For the first time in days, he felt as if he had a safe port. No longer was he lost at sea.

XXX

"Pam, it is time for the two of us to go down," said Jess as she walked in to the queen's suite. As it was a formal occasion and yet not as formal as the night before, she had taken the opportunity to dress for it.

Pam was teaching her a lot about fashion.

She had been told by the queen she was going to wear a long evening gown and so Jess had followed suit. She had chosen a red gown that was going to be set off by her hair. She had to admit since Sophie Anne had died, she had begun to feel like quite the princess even though Bill had made it quite clear to her vamps did not have princesses.

It did not stop her feeling as if she was one.

"I am ready."

Jess had thought Pam was going to keep in line with the theme she had been going with since she arrived – pink.

And so it was a shock but a welcome one when Pam came out in a brown gown, which had a flowing skirt and a tight corset. The flower which was sewn on the right side was a pretty focus but only added to the overall affect.

"Your majesty," Jess could only say in response.

Up until that moment, Jess had always seen her partly still as just Pam from Fangtasia. But she was so much more than that. And apparently she was ready for everyone to figure that one out for themselves.

"Come on, cheeto," said Pam, beaming now she was going to cause the stir she wanted to. She had not thought the girl was going to be such a good measure – but she had been.

"You are looking pretty hot yourself," despite the fact that she was Bill's wife, and Jess was Bill's progeny, it did not mean Pam could not enjoy Jess as a woman, visually at least. Some would say that meant she had questionable morals.

She would thank them for that.

"You know when he sees you tonight Bill is just going to go crazy for you."

It still surprised Pam how much the thought of her husband being pleased with her – well, pleased _her_. Not in a 'little woman, little wife' way... but in a, 'I actually want this marriage to work way'. And when she thought of him as a pompous dork, she could only think of how much sweeter that made him.

She stopped. "Life has changed me, Jess," She realised.

How could anything to do with him be _sweet_?

A year ago, Jess knew Pam would never have confided in her thusly. The Pam of the year before had been so hard. She knew full well that when she had to be Queen Pam was a fierce bitch and a half and she loved her for it.

But after all she had been through, how could she not be changed. If Bill had rejected her the way Eric had Pam, she did not think she would ever be who she had been at his side again.

The way she saw the Eric and Pam when she had first made vampire had altered. To Jess, they had been the ultimate maker and progeny. The two of them had been so intensely loyal to one another.

Of course, the two of them had been the ultimate bitches too... but if she had had to say who she would want to be like when she had matured... what she had wanted with Bill...

She had only had to look at Pam and Eric and she had known.

And yet even now when the two of them were so far apart Pam was still kicking butt. Pam was her idol in that moment – and if she ever became a queen then she knew just who she wanted to be like.

Maybe her eyes said all her mind had thought because the queen just took her by the hand and lead her to the stairs. It was time.

High time.

XXX

"Honestly, the only people there tonight are going to be vampires – there is no point in you coming if you are not going to be useful," Eric had always been blunt, but Sookie had to admit to her heart that had hurt.

She had got used to the fact that whenever Eric had summit or a conference she went with him. But apparently, not that night.

"What about the human staff? " asked Sookie – "What if one of them had been planted by Russell? She said and she had hoped in her eyes.

Eric repressed a sigh – she had a point. "If you can be ready in 10 minutes, you can come."

And Sookie being Sookie – she was ready.

She came downstairs in one of the mint green dresses he had brought her when the two of them had been in Rome. A small smile played on her lips.

And on his. He knew he had been cruel to her – he knew he had been inattentive. When he smelt her, he felt all the old feelings rushing back – but he knew as soon as the two of them were once more parted there was only ever going to be one girl on his mind and he knew just as it was for him, somewhere inside of her, she was accepting the two of them were nearing their swan song.

He reached out for her hand and she gave it to him.

"You look great tonight," she said to him, longing for them to be back in the days where she was not the first out of the two of them to give a compliment.

"As do you!" he said as he kissed her on the cheek, wishing that he could feel for her all he had when the two of them had been away.

He did not know where the feelings he had had for her had gone. Were they still inside of him?

What he had felt for Pam had always been strong – but at that moment it was all consuming and the two of them both knew it.

"Shall we go?" he asked.

She nodded, and the three of them begun there walk over to the palace...

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	9. Pater Familias

**Author Note (added 31st October):** No Updates till December now guys as I am crazy enough to do Nano once more. Have a good November all!

**Chapter 9**

"Wow – just wow," said the vampire who stood at the bottom of the stairs as he watched his wife and his progeny come down. He had known the two of them were going to be making the effort – but the truth was both Pam and Jess looked sublime.

"I take it you approve," Pam smiled as she let go of Jess's arm and took the hand which had been stretched out for her.

He nodded. "I am not worthy of such a queen."

"For once, we are in agreement."

As she came to his side, Pam was gratified to feel Bill kiss her forehead. Suddenly she had a bit of time for sentimental crap she realised. Was this why Eric had fallen for Sookie?

Because she made him feel as if he was special. Bill was the most human vampire she had ever met and there was a time not so very long ago when that would have been nothing but a very big turn off for her.

As it was... she had been feeling entirely too human herself of late. She felt so very vulnerable.

And he put her back together.

He gave her back her lacking confidence. He made her the queen she was that day.

"Has any one got here yet, pumpkin?" she asked.

"No, but it is not going to be long until the hordes arrive!" he said as he put a hand on her waist.

At that moment as he looked at her, he wondered if he should have given her a bit more training before he had let her lose on his subjects. He had not given her a lot of direction for that night.

But then many be she did not need it. As much as he would love to deny the fact, she was the progeny of Eric Northman. As much as she had been brought up no doubt on the blood of her sire's victims, she had also been breed to politics.

They had been part of her night life since she had been turned.

And so she would so fine.

Among the first of the sheriffs to arrive was Sheriff Roosevelt, closely followed by Sheriff Robinson. The two of them showed ample respect to their monarchs before moving on to talk to the human staff as well as Jess.

Having not yet made a century, Roosevelt seemed to be able to relate to the baby vamp well and the two of them were soon enjoying animated conversation.

"Are we going to have to watch the two of them?" asked Bill. As close as he was with his progeny, he had no doubt there were things Jess was never going to want to come to him with - things she would on the other hand go to her Auntie Pam with.

"No, she is far too into Jason stack house to even think about anyone else at the moment, unless she is worrying about Mr. Personality 3000."

"You shouldn't be unkind about Hoyt – he was good to her while the two of them lasted."

"I know that but in the end, he got boring."

"As all humans do for all vamps in the end?" he asked with a raised eye brow.

"I do not know what you mean." She said as her eyes turned to the door.

And there he stood with her... and behind them..._ him._

She did not think her heart had been so light since everything had begun – she knew he was going to take Eric's side over everything that had gone on between them, but it did not stop her feeling as if something at last, was very, very right.

"Godric," she said as she fell to her knee – something the queen would do for Godric only. He was her makers maker and that made him the most sacred thing in her life.

Despite his initial shock, Eric felt gratified and proud of Pam as she knelt before Godric. It gave him hope for the two of them. They were still bonded together.

Through him, they were bonded right then if by nothing else.

"Surely, dotter, now you are a queen it is I who should fall before you," said Godric as he noted Bill did not look overly pleased at her actions...

He had been given the chance to be a king and yet he had never taken it – and so perhaps it would be right for him to fall to his knee before his child's child. Protocol stated he should – he was in her realm, she was queen.

But it was quite clear she was not going to allow that as she shook her head.

"Never," she shook her head. "It has been so long since I have seen your face," she said as she tried to contain her joy.

When her own maker had been cursed she had longed for him to come to them but she had been far too proud to go to him for help.

He had never been big when she had been a baby on the idea other vamps needing to call others for aid. _You should be able to hold your own..._ that was his belief.

She had been too proud, she knew that now.

"A queen," Godric said as he shook his head in disbelief. This was a vampire he had known ever since she had been made.

In all truthfulness, he did not know if she was ready for this or not. He had doubts over the idea of Queen Pam. It was not only the fact she had never been the most balanced of vampires as he believed a monarch should be. It was the way it came about that bothered him.

He knew her and no matter what she said, he knew the way Eric had treated her had hurt more than anything else in the world. As he looked into her eyes, he knew it hurt her still – and he felt it.

The bond he had with her was weak – it was not like the one he had with his own progeny or the one she had with Eric. But when he had changed the Viking, he had been filled Eric with his own blood and when Pam had been changed; Eric had passed that same blood on to her. It was only natural that the two of them felt some sort of bond to one another.

"Your majesty, would you object very much if your queen and I were to take a turn about the gardens? I have a feeling the two of us have much to say to one another," said Godric as he turned to Bill, who Eric knew was feeling uncomfortable.

He had seen Pam act in many ways over the years. He had seen her cool, calm and collected. He had seen her pissed. And over the past few months, he had seen her when she had been at her very lowest emotional ebb.

But Eric did not think Bill had ever seen her submit herself to someone the way she had with Godric.

She had never shown such respect to him, in the sight of (or out of it) the king of Louisiana.

"If it is alright with her majesty," said the former confederate soldier turned to his wife.

"Then I shall go with the sheriff of Texas. Please tell us to come in when it is time," said Pam as she gently took the hand of her husband. "Send Ginger when you are ready for the meeting," squeezing the hand that she held, Pam gave Bill a kiss on the cheek.

She knew he was not happy but there was no way she was going to deny Godric when he had come to Louisiana.

They had so much to say to one another.

XXX

"I am surprised at you, dotter. I know you have a stubborn streak but I did not think you were the sought of vamp to cut off your own nose to spite your face," said Godric as Pam walked on his arm.

The gardens of the palace were quite pretty he had to admit. There was a hedge row up to the fountain which sat in the middle of the garden and they were lit up. He wondered if Pam had had a hand in creating it and if it reminded her of home, of England.

"That is not what I am doing – not now. I admit when I married Bill it was not for love," she said as she looked at him. "I assumed Eric has got you up to speed on the way things are between the two of us."

Gravely, he nodded. "I was surprised. I did not think I would ever have to hear such a take about my dearly beloved children."

"Neither did I in truth," She shrugged. Her eyes searched the garden as if she was trying to find justification for what she had done. But there was none that he was going to accept.

"I was angry – and I was alone, and I was scared," she admitted. "I am not used to such emotions. I kept bleeding – all of the time, I bleed from sun up to sun down some days just after Eric left and Bill was concerned. Not only that but he wanted to get back at Eric as well for what he had done when he had taken – his whore, away."

"You should not speak ill of Sookie."

"Oh, I know you love her for the help she gave to you that morning on the roof. But to me she is never going to be any one but the woman who took Eric from me – and he is not sorry for that, not one bit. You see the way he parades her in front of me."

"May I reply to each of those points in turn?" he asked as they got to the fountain. "I am glad she was there to help Eric and I that night- if she had not been there then I do not know what would have happened, but I more respect Sookie than love her. And just so you know, he did not wish to bring her with him tonight. She insisted. Finally, and I waited till last with this one since I know it might hurt – but Eric is the sort of man who cannot be stolen. He has to consent. He makes his own choices. After the years you have spent together, you know this, Pamela."

She nodded. She had known that even as she had said the words. She just had not wanted to admit that he had left her of his own accord.

"Why did he not want to bring her though? I thought the two of them were joint at the hip as it were."

Godric shook his head. "It does seem, after all, he still considers you to be the most remarkable woman he has ever met even if he will not own to it at the moment. He misses his daughter, his sister, his friend."

"I think that you are wrong. I am sorry Godric, but truly I do. He doesn't care for me – not at all,"

"Stop it with the melodramatics, Pam; they don't work with me when we both know you are – in your own words – talking bull shit."

Pam s eyes opened in shock. She did not think she had ever heard Godric curse like that before so she knew he was serious.

Her eyes feel to the floor. "He holds you dearer than anyone else to his heart," Godric pressed on and raised a hand before she could reply to him. He had a feeling she had not had a lot of discipline since she had become the queen of Louisiana and queen or no queen, she had to hear it the way it was from somewhere.

It might as well be him.

"I will not and I cannot condone the way he has behaved towards you of late – in fact, I have made my disapproval of his treatment of you clear. But you are been far from faultless in this."

She did not look at him for she could not in that moment. She could take disapproval from a lot of people. But not Godric.

"First of all, as much as I _agree_ with the decision you made, you _did _disobey Eric; whether or not that was the right thing to do, you still did it. Second, you married without the consent of your maker a man you knew he couldn't stand. Do not expect me to believe this was a love match from the start."

"It was not, I told you that – I did it to anger Eric. I –"turning from him, she sighed. "I just so wanted him to notice me once more." She shrugged and he could not say he was surprised to see a bloody tear streak down her cheek.

"I know – and now?"

"And now what Godric?"

"Is it a love match?"

She turned to him to vigorously deny it but she found when she opened her mouth she could not get the words out.

"There are aspects of my life I love now. I enjoy being queen, I love being near Jess. As for Bill... I got him all wrong. I care for him... more than any man, you and Eric aside. And I know he can make me happy... and I want to make him happy. If you define that as love..." she shrugged. "I can't say for sure it isn't a love match any more."

She didn't know. She just didn't know.

"I define what I feel for you as love, dotter. I define what I feel for Eric as love. And I want to see the two of you happy. But you both know until the two of you are talking and communicating, that won't happen. Let him say sorry – say sorry yourself," He urged her.

She did not know if she was able to set aside her pride; she did not know if Eric could; the only thing she did know was the advice Godric gave her was always solid, and when she had followed it, she had always reaped the benefits.

He wiped the tear off her face and she gave a sigh. As the two of them looked at one another, she shrugged.

"I feel so much better now that you are here. I know we are going to be able to fight Edgington if you're here."

"Only we all band together – it would not work, if for say, a sheriff was at war with his monarchs."

"We are not at war, I'll never fight against Eric... I couldn't."

And her eyes told Godric what her lips could not.

_I miss him..._

Getting up, she rubbed her eyes. She was not going to be seen as weak by the others that night.

She did not see Eric standing at the windows watching her wipe her eyes dry, nor did she see the adoring look on his face at the sight of his progeny and maker together.

He recalled London... 1910... 1911... 1912...

The happiest of days...

How he longed for them.

XXX

In a blue, kneel length cocktail dress; Ginger begun to make her way out to the gardens to get her mistress and the sheriff in from the garden.

She hoped that when the meeting begun she was going to be able to go in with Pam. She had to say even though she had been with her throughout everything; she was beginning to miss her.

She knew she was under pressure – and she had never been the most attentive of mistresses but of late, Pam seemed to be either be ignoring her or telling her to piss off. She had thought the two of them had got closer after all they had been through. But she was wrong.

She had been able out to go out to the garden when she felt a hand on her arm, and she smile. She knew that hand.

Raising her head to look in to his eyes, she kept a smile on her face.

"It is not going to be long until you are not home now, Ginger dear," Eric said to her. "See to it that you continue to be good to Pam," he said and she nodded.

"If that is what you want, Mr. Eric," she nodded nervously.

"It is. Ensure the queen is as happy as she can be – and if she speaks of me, fight my corner. For the first time in my life, I need you." He said to her tenderly.

XXX

Pam walked back in to the palace, flanked by Ginger and Godric; she went to the side of the king straight away.

"Sweetheart, there you are. We are just about to go in to the meeting. Are you sure you are going to be ok out here hosting?"

Pam felt her stomach flip. She had not thought – she had just assumed...

"Am I not going to be going through with you?"

"I am sorry if I have you that impression sweetheart, but I need you out here mingling with the human staff."

_Small men with small ideas._

For the first time in many years she felt as if someone was trying to force her to put on a corset…

She remembered the way she had been in her human skin – the way her mother had been making her wait in drawing rooms, charming men.

"Let me come in with you. How long have you know me? Pumpkin, am I not a fire side general?"

"You are but we cannot leave the human staff and the consorts out here with no host when we have brought them into our home," he said as he cupped her cheek. "I shall tell you everything on our return."

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	10. Reactions and Revaluations

**Chapter 10**

Pam did not think she had got it so wrong it a long time. She had thought she had been at the centre of Bill's life. She had been happy and secure in that knowledge. She had believed it.

But if that had been the truth, then he would have told her he had no intention of letting her into the meeting room. Instead he had kept her dangling at a tantalising distance. He had made no attempt to correct her, when he had known what she had thought.

And he had known – of that she was sure.

Her eyes wondered the room. She did not want to be out here. She did not want to be on the outside. She belonged in there – in that room, at _his_ side.

"Are you ok?" said Jess as she came to his side. She had been having a rather interesting conversation with Quentin when Bill had called the sheriffs in to the office. She had been sorry he had done so. It was nice to talk to a vamp who was so near her own age. And yet he had seen and done so much...

He was not mature, but he was not baby, that was for sure.

"No," Pam said in a quiet but furious voice. She had to get out of here but she was not going to give the others the satisfaction of thinking she could not cope. She was the queen of Louisiana. Coping was what she did. Her eyes feel on Sookie. "Keep her away from me."

She was sure the woman was not going to approach her, for she had to have a death wish to do so. She had to know that if she came within ten feet of her she would lose her life.

"Just ignore the bitch," said Jess as she stepped round to cover Sookie from the queen's view. She was not going to let that wannabe get in the way of Pam's night.

"I'm the fucking queen – not her. When is tinkers going to take the hint?"

XXX

What Bill had said to the sheriffs Eric thought was no more than obvious. That they were to show respect to their partner from the other states, who was their equal in their area now – that they were to take no unnecessary risks – that they were to check in with their vassals daily – and they were to report anything they thought suspicious – on pain of the truth death.

He was thrilled to learn that for once the king was thinking with his brain and had paired him with his maker. He would have accepted no other. And he knew he had to have someone to keep him in check. It had been a long time since he had felt this emotional.

Godric would stabilise him.

And yet deep down in his soul, it was not his maker he was yearning for.

He was so close to her; she was in the very next room. This was the closest they had been for any prolonged amount of time for months. And he wanted nothing more than to reach out. To hold her once more.

He knew the most likely thing was that she was going to block him. But the desire to connect to her through their bond was overwhelming. And so he reached for her.

And when he did he felt anger. Before he had gone in to the meeting with Godric he had caught just a glimpse of her and he knew she had been shaken by some thing. It was only as he felt what she did that he finally clicked on to why.

Even as a baby vamp she had never liked being excluded from the things he had spoken about with his own maker. It had always unsettled her to think that things were going on she had no idea about.

And so now she was a queen consort – and she was at least theoretically more powerful than she had ever been when she had been at his side. And yet she had never been so shut out.

She never had been willingly to play the long game.

Poor Pam, he thought with a smirk. Genuinely, he pitied her – but, oh, the irony...

If there had been one mistake Bill had made that night it was when he had left her outside. She was not going to take kindly to it. And it was going to make him look like good cop at last.

"I will check in with all of you twice a week from now on, but you are of course free to contact me or come to the palace as and when you need too. My door is always open. Any questions?" finished Bill and to Eric annoyance there was.

What he had said had been plain enough – he did not see anything to question. But of course the young eager sheriffs were desperate to impress.

There was only one monarch _he_ wanted to impress though.

XXX

When her husband came out of his office, Pam tried to avoid his eyes. She was not going to allow him to see her hurt and disappointed. But as soon as he saw her, he vamped it to her side.

"I trust everything has been fine in my absence, darlin'?" he said as he came to her side and put a hand on her hip which she was quick to shake off.

She knew she should not embarrass him in front of everyone – and she was not going to let Eric have the satisfaction of seeing them fight. She had to cover fast.

"I can feel the bleeds coming. I don't want anyone to know. May I have permission to retire?" she asked, keeping her voice controlled.

Bill looked at her confused. He was not so much of an idiot to understand there was something wrong, but he was enough of an idiot to not understand why.

"Of course."

She did not need to know any more and so she turned and made her way toward the stairs without saying anything else.

"What is wrong with the queen?" he said as he went to the side of his progeny.

"She thought she was going to go in to the meeting room with you – and I thought she was going to as well. Are you trying to piss her off?" asked Jess.

"No," said Bill – he had just assumed. As had her majesty apparently. "Jess, I had to delegate to you girls tonight, I had no intention-"

"Your majesty," a voice cut in.

"Sherriff Fitzroy, what can I do for you?"

He did not see that behind him, another of his sheriffs was vamping up the palace stairs.

XXX

Pam had had a hand on the handle of her room when she had felt that intoxicating presence behind her. She did not think she was ever going to understand why he could do what he did to her. She only knew she did not want it to stop.

His foots steps slowed as he came towards her but she did not turn to face him. He knew she was upset, he didn't need to see it. And he had only come to taunt her some more, she told herself.

His arm came round her body, and his huge hand covered her petite one.

His lips were millimetres from the back of her head – and then he closed the gap, and kissed her.

Her involuntary shiver angered her pride.

"Pamela," he whispered, his Swedish accent unhidden – always a sign on deep emotion.

And so he had not come to mock her.

Pushing down, she opened the doors to her rooms and led him in. And yet she would not turn to face him for fear the spell might break.

As soon as the door was shut he put his hands on her shoulders. "He was wrong to shut you out tonight."

"His majesty will do as he will. It is not for you to question."

"Do not give me that submissive bullshit. That is not my girl, not the Pam I raised," Eric soothed as he turned her to face him, patience breaking at last. Cupping her cheeks, he let out a deep breath. "We both know you should have been in that meeting room tonight. You are a fireside general, my girl."

"I should have. I should have been at his side, I have that right. How dare he shut me out?" She asked furiously, agreeing, but Eric shook his head. He was at least glad to see her fire once more.

"No. Not at his side. At mine."

Her expression changed and she looked up at him shocked. Had so much changed that she was shocked that he wanted her to stand at his side?

"I was so very wrong to hit you. And I am sorry Pamela, for my absence. I was wrong to stay away from you so long. Sweetheart," he sighed as he grazed her nose with his own. "Please forgive me."

"Forgiveness must be earned."

He smirked. "So it must. Come to the club, tomorrow, your majesty. I will prove my loyalty."

She nodded, yet she tried to keep her expression indifferent. "I will see you tomorrow then."

She was not going to come round to him easy – he could see it in her that she was going to make him chase her as she had used too... when they had been so young... and when he had been in love with her...

As he was once more.

As he went out the door he turned once more to look his progeny up and down, to imprint her just as she was then on his memory.

"You are mine." He told her once more.

Now all he had to do was convince her of it.

Walking down the stairs, he felt as if he could fly – and perhaps that night he would. He would get her back, by hook or by crook.

Yet for that night, his work at the palace was done.

He did not know if King Bill saw him descend the stairs or not. He didn't care. Let the entire world see... and let them know who and where he had been. Once he had found Godric, he then found his little fae friend.

"We're leaving."

It was a quiet walk back across the grave yard for Eric and Sookie. Godric had decided to go straight back to the house Shreveport and he had agreed to look in at the club for Eric before they closed up. And so the two who had been so close until just a day or two ago, were left alone.

The two of them made it all the way to the porch before Sookie spoke her mind over what she had seen that night.

"When?" she said as she turned round to face him, walking over to the rocker rather than going in to the house where he had for such a small amount of time made her so happy.

"When what, Sookie? You need to give me more of a clue."

"When did you fall for Pam again?" she knew why he had gone upstairs. She had felt it. And she knew she didn't make him feel that way.

"The moment I knew I couldn't have her anymore," He shrugged honestly. He owed her his honesty.

It wasn't as if he didn't love Sookie, for he did. But the fire had burnt so hot in Italy – all that were left now they were home was the embers and the memories.

Nodding, she did not allow a single tear to fall. The two of them were adults. And so they could do this like adults. No half truths... no tantrums.

"I didn't think it was going to be able the chase for you."

"Neither did I," he sadly nodded. "Sookie... for what it is worth, I am sorry."

"I know you are." She said as she got up and stood by his side. "Thank you for a blissful, loved filled couple of months. And thank you for being honest."

Unable to do anything else, he took her into his arms for the final time as a lover. The two of them had been something special. "It was real, wasn't it?" she asked innocently.

He nodded as a bloody tear feel on to her golden head.

"It was,." Realising her, he walked down the stairs. The last thing he heard her say that night was the only thing he didn't need to be told.

"Go get your baby back."

_Please review_!

**Author Note**: Please forgive (1) the length of time since the last update and (2) the characterisations here. After a re read I am not entirely happy with the dialogue, but have to post some time.

Unfortunately, at the end of last November, my mum went in to hospital. She is all better now, but that knock me off my stride with writing for a while. I got back into writing just before Christmas and this is actually the second draft of this chapter – the first was lost when my last lap top died a death on Boxing Day (I also lost my Nano project, the reason I didn't post in November – I was in Pam's words, pissed!). I have learnt my lesson – I back up ten times a day now! By the time I was ready to start writing _again_, my final uni semester had decided to take over my life without consulting me. Nevertheless, I really did not intend to be gone for six months. I am so sorry guys.

But I am back and eager to finish this story, which I will do. I have not given up – I hope you guys haven't either!

Hope you all had a good easter!


	11. The Chosen Path

**Chapter 11**

Bill went up to his wife's rooms the next day with a lot on his mind, his conscience and his heart. He had thought she had understood. He had thought she knew he had always planned on taking the meeting alone. And then he had begun to think about the way she had been treated with Eric – and the way he had treated her. He had wanted her as his equal and that was what he had told her.

And then he had treated her as he had. It was not surprise that she had got angry. Well, before the two of them had wed he had known her temperament.

But there was another emotion in him and he was ashamed to say that was jealousy. As queen, she had right to have sex with whomever she chose. This was not a human marriage. They were old enough to know the score. And sex was just part of who they were, especially Pam. She was a sensual woman. The truth was he had never even considered the thought the two of the might live monogamously together for the next ten years.

But the thought of her going to Eric to fulfil her needs was more than he could take – and when he had seen him come down the stairs...

"Darling, may I speak with you?" he said as he knocked on Pam's door.

"You sure you want to be in the same room as me?"

"What?"

"Because you didn't last night!" taking that as a yes, he walked in to the room.

"You are blowing this all out of proportion," He shook his head – "the two of us just need better communication. Pam, I – are you going somewhere?"

He had to say he hoped she was not, for his mind had gone to places he was only too willingly to let it stray to the moment he had seen her in her cat suit. She should stay in – and the two of the could row passionately and then they could love passionately he thought to himself.

"And if I am?" she said with the defiant shrug that told him that she was going to please herself before anyone else.

"Then I hope you have a good night – but before you do go... Pam, we got our wires so crossed last night. I did not prevent you from entering the meeting due to lack of trust but because we had a houseful of foreign guests."

"And if only you would have put your faith in her, then Jess could have dealt with then."

"But I put my faith in you, don't you see that? Pam, you are queen now. With your power comes responsibility."

"But what power do I have?"

"To aid and help me. To make the lives of the vampire in this state better. It was one night, do not allow it to spoil everything we are trying to make happen here," Bill told her shaking his head.

He had known she was passionate and head strong. But she had a good mind. If only she would use it.

"You do have power here. And you are wanted here." He reiterated. Kissing her forehead, he knew he had to let her burn off steam. "Have a good day sweetheart."

Ginger who had been sitting in the corner while the king and queen had conversed, continued to be mute as the queen sat on the side of the bed. She did not think she had ever seen Pam look so confused – but only for a moment.

Then the shutters came up.

"I shall be back before sun rise, of course," she said as she put her earrings in. She had no idea if going back to the club was a good idea.

But part of her longed for the old days – even if the new ones weren't as terrible as she had thought they were the night before.

XXX

"Has she come round?" Jess said as she leant against the door way to Bill's office.

"She was a little calmer, but Pam is a woman of passions." If it was possible for him to do so, then the king looked tired thought his progeny. "I had no intentions of upsetting her last night."

"I know you didn't. You were just been a man," teased Jess with a smile. "Do you want any help tonight?"

"You don't have plans?" he asked.

"Well yeah I do but it is nothing important." She shrugged.

"What are you doing?"

"I was going to go and see Jason, but I can do that any night."

"No, you should go and do it tonight," he got up from where he had been sitting and shook his head. "You go on as you would. Don't look so worried, kid. This is just the first argument, but Pam and I will be alright, I swear," he said as he cupped her face. "You are a good girl."

"There was a time when that was the last thing in the world you would have called me," said Jess with a smile.

He was so glad the two of them had come so far from her first days. The truth was Bill had been ten times the dad to her than her biological one had ever been.

"I'll be back before five," she said to him with a smile.

"Be sure you are then," he said almost wishing she would be a little like Pam and not tell her what was going on. If she was not back by 5.01, in the times they were living in, he would worry.

But then his wife was a constant worry.

Sitting back down at his desk, he sighed. Just twenty four hours ago he had felt as if he and the girls were making such progress. And now he was just not so sure.

XXX

By the time Pam arrived, Eric had everything covered for the night. He had Chow on the door and a couple of girls on the bar. He had freed himself up to devoted himself to his queen for the evening.

He was going to be hers for the night as he had been in the early days. He knew even before everything at the Moon Goddess he had neglected her.

The two of them might joke about being heartless but the fact of the matter was, they were not when it came to one another. He was only sorry he had forgotten it and it had taken her getting hurt emotionally for him to remember it. That was a mistake.

He was so sorry.

Godric had said he would take care of any business from Bill that night if they were contacted and so it really was going to be him and his girl once more.

Sitting in his chair in the office he realised how much he needed her to sit at his side.

The world had got lonely. The room was cold. And he was utterly alone, as he always would be without her.

There was a knock.

"Enter."

"The queen is here," Chow announced Pam and the Viking sat up.

She walked in to the room as if she still owned the place. She had been regal since the day he had made her he thought to himself with a smile. The cat suit was a pleasant reminder of some of the old days they had had together. She looked damn good – good enough to eat.

Her royalty was not all the work of Compton.

Walking round the desk he greeted her. "Thank you for coming, sweetheart," the endearment a reminder of those early happy years they had had together. But when he tried to kiss her lips she turned away.

Well, she had said he was not forgiven yet and he knew he did not deserve to be. But he had thought they had made progress last night.

"Are you thirsty?" he begun with the formalities. It was only polite to offer your queen something to drink when she came to you he guessed. And they were in a bar. But she shook her head.

"I had someone before I came."

"Ginger?"

"How did you guess?" she smirked.

"What's yours is mine."

"She said she was going to come with me when I told her I was going," She said to him - that was as much as an apology he was going to get for Ginger or anything else for that matter. "I didn't steal her."

She was there – and it was not going to be so long until they were both home he said to himself. He knew it in his heart. If she had had no intention of returning then she wouldn't have come.

"Your majesty will do as you will," Eric said gently putting up his hands in peace. Ginger was of no matter that night he it was not the human he was fighting for.

Turning from him she sat on the sofa. "So you said I was here so that you might make it up to me? How can you ever do that in a single night?"

He was taken aback by that. She had always felt as if she could speak her mind when she was with him but he was a lot more comfortable when she was doing so by making jokes or being rude about it.

Not when she was wanting a straight answer to a straight question.

This was not the two of them... this was not the way they had been for a long time. They were a laugh a minute, not all deep and meaningful.

"I can't," He said as he sat by her side a put his hand on her leg. "You have to give me more time than that. Come on me sweetheart..."

"Don't you get it? I am not your sweetheart. For fucks sake Eric, just tell me what she had that I didn't!"

And there it was at long last. The pitiful question that she had sworn she would never ask. But she had to know. Having lost her composure once, she sat up straight and looked into his mesmerizing eyes.

"Nothing – I can't remember."

"You utterly broke my fucking heart for some little blonde piece who had something so alluring that you can't remember what it was. Oh classy."

"I just want us back. You back."

No other words would have turned her head as those did for if she was honest with herself in the deepest part of her soul, that was all she wanted to hear. A chance to return to the happiest days she had shared with him: they were the happiest of her life. But she knew she couldn't just snap her fingers and make the past six months go away ... this was far beyond Sookie now. She had been a catalyst.

But it went deeper.

Yet all it took was for her to look at him to see he did regret all that had gone so very wrong between them. And she had missed him.

She had Godric's words in her head. There was no point cutting off her nose to spite her face.

A rush of tenderness for him came over her. It was not an emotion she often got these days.

Deep down, he was still her Eric.

"I am sorry. Pam, it has always been you."

She all but moved to throw her arms about him, trying to desperately as she was to banish her pride, when the door opened.

"I know what you said Eric, but I need you outside. Things are getting crazy out there."

For the love of all that was good and holy, Pam did not know why she and Eric had keep him so long – he was an incompetent bastard.

"I'll deal with it," she said as she got up – incompetent as he was, she knew Chow had given her the perfect opportunity to regain her composure and while she was sure Eric was not going to be too grateful for that, she was. She had been on the edge of caving in to him.

And she had to be stronger than that.

She was not surprised by how easy she found it to slip back into being Pam from Fangtasia instead of the queen of Louisiana. She was gratified to see many of the fangbangers had missed her and how they had begun to worry she had moved on.

Even when she had been a bitch to her customers she had been adored by them too – and that was what's he had missed about going out to work each night. Being a kept woman was not half as much fun.

She had always been her own person and Fangtasia was part of that.

Eric sat on his throne and watched her work the room. He had been furious with Chow for disturbing him when he had come in to the room – but it had in the end diffused a certain tension between them.

As he caught her eye, she gave him a small smile – it was perhaps still slightly sad, but it was all going in the right direction.

It seemed to him that Pam was alive for the first time in months as she served up the Tru Bloods. He enjoyed watching her work willingly; he enjoyed the way her figure moved as she worked the room; the angle her head was at when she laughed.

It was all so natural to her. And so to him.

"I was watching you tonight," he said once the punters and Chow had gone. It was only the two of them left there... it was just like the old days. "You know, you belong here. The club... it was all down to you that we built this place up."

She had told him before that he did not do modesty well, but once more it was one of those times when he was being honest and she was willing to admit that too. He had been the one who had put up the capital for it... but he had left the naming of the place and the design of it to her.

All the things that had made it such a commercial success was done to her.

"It felt good," She admitted to him. There had been too many lies already... and then she got on with the restocking for the next night.

It was something she had always left to the bar staff but for some reason there was something therapeutic about doing it herself that night. And she had to keep busy.

When she could feel his eyes on her.

"Come here," he said Vamping to her side and taking her hand. He could not bear all this dancing around each other...

Dancing on the other hand though...

Taking her hand he smiled. "What do you think you are doing?" she said and yet she allowed him to draw her close.

"Do you remember London, April 1945? Dancing on the mall?" he purred in her ear as he recall the end of the war.

"How could I forget?"

April had been one of those rare times when the had fallen back in love momentarily.

It had been a fleeting glimpse of how he had felt about her when she had been his baby all shiny and new. When he had been unable to think about anyone but her.

And yet it had ended...

It had been a mutual thing but she knew she had never been able to sustain his passion as a romantic love and she would never be able too. That was not in their natures and nor was it meant to be.

Suddenly, it was about no one but herself and Eric. The problems they had faced.

He was neglectful. She was insubordinate.

Maybe she had been fooling herself for a long time. Maybe it was no one's fault. Maybe they just weren't meant to be... maybe they were to altered and changed...

"I can't do this. It isn't working anymore," she said as she pulled away. When she had been young she would have let him kiss it literally better.

But no more.

"God damn it I love you. But this isn't me."

He looked down on her with such confusion. It was as if he had amnesia once more.

"Come back to the house – give me a week and I can turn the clock back for the two of us."

"The queen of Louisiana doesn't have a week free for ten years," she reminded him as she stepped out of his arms and picked up her bag.

He was suddenly exasperated with her for the millionth time in their life together.

"Why did you come here tonight if you knew you were just going to go back to him?"

"Firstly, curiosity, secondly, because I am so fucked up at the moment, you have no idea. I love you, I hate you. Bill cares for me, but then he shuts me out. I love being queen, and yet I miss this place. I wanna be two sodding people right now. And I don't know who I am."

The tension mounted between them. As her maker, he could command her to stay – but he didn't think that would help.

"Let me help you figure it out."

"You can't."

XXX

Pam returned to the palace with the same contradictions in her heart and mind as she had had when she had been with Eric. It had been over a century since she had been so confused by who she was and who she was meant to be.

Taking a deep breath, she headed in.

Her eyes feel upon the staircase which was to lead her to her rooms when she looked side words in to her husband's office and saw him sitting at his desk with his head in his hands.

He made no acknowledgement of her. And he was distressed... the blood the two of them had traded told her that.

"_But I put my faith in you, don't you see that? Pam, you are queen now. With your power comes responsibility." _

"Bill? What is it?" she said as she walked towards him.

He was startled by her return for just a moment, she saw it in her eyes. And then she felt his relief... quite a different vibe from the one she was receiving from Eric just then.

"Ogden's been found."

Whatever it was then, it was not good news.

He sat back and looked at her intently.

"But Kerr, and by extension myself – we were too late. He was drained. Utterly."

Silence.

"I don't know what to say."

"There is nothing you can say. He lived in my area. He was my responsibility. I haven't ever lost someone before."

She shook his head. "Ours. Our area."

She had not thought to see him in such distress. And the hope that entered his eyes by the three simply words she had said filled her heart.

Going to his side, she knelt by him and took his hand, intertwining their fingers as she did so.

He was grateful to her.

"Last night was a mistake – and it won't happen again," he muttered as he kissed the hands of hers which he clasped. "Pam, I need you – I need my queen."

"Then you have me."

Just two minutes before, she had been so undecided - but now she wasn't. The wobble she had had that night was no more than a wobble. She knew exactly who she was. What life she was to live; the one she had carved for herself.

The path she had chosen...

The one where she was needed.

Jess was intensely relieved on her return at ten to five to find her parents together, foreheads touching as they huddled together.

It struck her no matter how old Edgington was; he was not as strong as they were united.

_Please review!_


	12. A Message

**Chapter 12**

Godric had come to Louisiana in order so that he might help his own progeny through, what was admittedly, a difficult time. But if he thought he was going to go soft of him because he was having a difficult time then he had another thing coming.

"My son it is time for you to stop brooding. The queen will come to you when she is ready and not before," Godric said as he looked over some of the official state papers, getting himself up to speed on what had been going on in area 5 of late. He had no need to wonder if Eric had done so since he had been 'back' as it were.

When it came to area five he was quite sure that his boy did not miss a singular trick.

But no - for once in life Eric thought his maker did not quite understand.

Even when Pam had run out in her confusion the night before, he had been quite sure he had had a chance to regain what was stolen from him.

But then he had reached through their body to find she had made peace with herself. And yet she was not by his side.

For the first time in her life she had put someone before himself.

And he hated her for it; and he loved her for it.

"Godric, how did you know it was time to set me free?" he asked his maker. He knew what the elder vamp was saying to him.

He just didn't like it very much. And he hated the question he had had to ask him even more. But it was necessary in a way he had never thought that it would be.

"Your gut tells you," He nodded, but held back the next sentence... the one he knew would hurt his son more than any other.

That his everything was not his to release any more; that she had done the impossible.

That she had freed herself.

XXX

"The question is why..." said Bill as he sat bolt upright on the edge of his wife's bed. The two of them had been up late the night before holding one another but saying and doing little else. His distress had found her in a way nothing else could have. He met her eyes in the mirror of her vanity.

"You have your theories," she said as she turned to him. Now that he had had his moment of grief, it high time the king and the queen thought about the practicalities.

"Don't you?" he asked with a raised eye brows.

"Well, I don't know enough about it – but I am thinking Russell is one of the top three," she turned round to face him and he nodded.

"He is. Oh, Pam it is such a fine line I am trying to tread here," Bill admitted to her as he rubbed his hands down his face. It was a tell tale sign of his stress she was beginning to understand. "I cannot panic or else I am going to panic everyone in my kingdom – but I have to be on my guard."

"Bill, stop it sweetheart. You are reminding me of why I labelled you a dork. Pumpkin, what evidence do we have."

"Very little as of yet." He confessed truthfully.

Coming to his side, she sat down by him and rested her hand on the back of his neck. "Then stop it. You sent people to investigate."

"Of course, first thing when they came up from ground."

"Then there is very little else you can do. See what they say before stressing yourself out. So don't cry over the blood till it runs dry," she said with both a wicked and seductive smile.

Leaning back on the bed he pulled her towards him. The time was hardly appropriate – he had a kingdom to run after all.

But the authorities would not have grated him such a wife if they did not want him to enjoy her he thought.

A knock on the door.

"We could ignore it," suggested the queen as she raised her eye brow but Bill shook his head... if only his conscience would allow it.

"What is it, Shelley?"

"Sherriff Fitzroy is here."

"Tudor bastard," Said Pam as she shook her head.

"Literally," agreed her husband as he left the room.

"Ginger," Pam summoned – just because Bill wasn't there, didn't mean she couldn't have any fun. The fact was, now she had come to some kind of resolution about who she was and who she wanted to be from that day on wards she felt much better. Eric and herself were always going to be tied together and she would not want to change that. If there had been any good in her life then it was done to him.

He was her maker. He was her hero.

But he had also broken something in her when he had left for Rome with Sookie. When he had had amnesia he had clearly, and perhaps obviously, forgotten who she was for he seemed to think she was some submissive little bitch.

Not quite her style.

Perhaps once her marriage contract was up she would return to him.

Or perhaps she wouldn't.

Or maybe with Edgington back she would not live long enough to have to make that decision.

But one thing was for sure in that moment as her human came through the door with a knowing smile on her face.

For that night, her needs were going to be satisfied.

XXX

Godric walked in to Fangtasia. He had to admit it was not quite his sort of place and he had been surprised when Eric had told him that he and Pam were going to open a bar.

He had assumed that it had been her idea – of course it was going to be lucrative for the two of them he had thought.

But still not quite there scene.

That was before he had seen Eric sitting in his throne.

His son had been a prince when he had been human and he was a king now that he was vampire, even if only in Fangtasia.

No he looked as if he had been born there.

"All business of the area has been taken care of for the night sheriff Northman."

"All our vassals have checked in."

"None of them drained or in any other way unwell."

"I am glad."

Godric knew how unhappy Eric had been – before he had left the house that morning he had made it clear.

"Have you come to a decision yet?" asked his maker as he stood at his side.

Eric started to nod before he shook his head.

He would go to the palace night and ask the queen what she wanted to happen.

It was just that he was in himself still struggling to except that this was happening to him and Pam. They were never meant to end up in this situation.

It happened to other progeny's... other makers...

Godric wondered what would become of Eric in that moment if the queen was not willing to return to him. He had been devastated by his own actions – and it was clear he had never expected the consequences to be so far reaching.

His eyes scanned the club. Vamps and humans were in that night, laughing and dancing, kissing and fantasying.

And it was among them that Eric tried to figure out if he could find a road back to his past.

XXX

Pam came down the stairs as some her husband's staff left his office, and he stood at the door seeing them out looking grace.

She looked at him curiously. "What is it?"

"Kerr – something has come to light."

Walking in to his office she sat down opposite him and waited for him to explain.

No more separation or anger – she was determined they were going to see the thing through together.

"He had a human," said Bill to her simply as if she was understand what he meant from that simple statement.

"And..."

"And it seems that his death was a message from Edgington..."

Pam turned over what he was saying in her mind.

"Because he was not using that human as food was he?" asked Pam as she shook her head.

"No – Kerr was devoted to him," Bill shrugged. This was all he had ever believed about Russell. He was determined to drag them all back in to the dark days.

He did not think the queen would be so bothered by that. She was never going to be as liberal as he was. She was still drinking Ginger rather than true blood.

But she was not in the same league as Edgington.

"It is our right to keep a human if we so chose to do so." Pam said determinedly.

"But not in Russell's opinion if we care for them. They are like a pet or a fridge. They are, not in his opinion, our equals... or yours, I suspect dear wife."

"Pumpkin, I hate going to start 'Save the humans' if that's what you ask. But none of us should lose our life for doing what comes naturally."

"Which is..."

"Keeping a human..."

"And caring for them." He raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you do not care for Ginger because we know it would be a lit – both of us."

"I do care for her – but I know she is a human. Bill, she is not my equal."

"No but the point is if she was not here then you would miss her."

Pam paused. "That is true."

"And this is just the start. Russell would have us use humans for food and dispose of them. We are all being watched. Any of us being too loving to those we care about will be ended as if we ourselves were human. Edgington is not going to stop until each and every one of us either bends the knee to his ideas or he has killed us."

"Then not only is Louisiana spear headeg the attack against him, but it is leaders are a liberal king and a queen who is known to care for her human. We between us represented between us everything Edgington wants to kill –"

"And everyone of our vassals killed is one less we have to fight him with."

"Shit, fuck and bollucks dear William."

"Indeed sweet wife."

_Please review!_


	13. Ginger

**Chapter 13**

By the time that Eric got to the palace that night after his busy night at the club, Pam was still trying to take in what Bill had said to her.

She sat in the living room mulling over everything in her mind, trying to find a way that her husband could have been wrong for she did not want him to be right. She did not want to be a prime target for that mad shit – but more than that, she did not want her husband to be one of his targets.

What ever happened though, she was not going to lose Ginger. There was no human or vamp alive who would make her give her up.

"Majesty, the sheriff of area five is here."

"Show him in," she said absentminded.

If only she was older. If only she was stronger. If only she had more of an idea how the hell to help the king things would be that little bit better.

This was how Eric came across her. She had a look on her face akin to the one she had worn at the club but he felt she had at least resolution. He had felt she had come to that for a few days.

So this worry was something new. If she had still been at their - his - home then he did not think her own worries would so trouble him.

But she was a queen now. When she worried, there was a reason to worry and he had to start treating her as if she was a queen.

"You are troubled, your majesty." He said as he stood before her and she nodded, signalling that he should sit beside her.

For all the fact they were not as they were, the two of them were still most definitely two things... on the same side of this damn war as well as macker and progeny. They owed one another there allegiance.

"I am."

She turned to him and realised that that was really what she wanted to do. This distance between them was good for neither of them – and she needed her best friend to be there for her then more than she ever had before.

She knew it was not all about her. But just for a while, to have his whole attention and have his brush away her fears.

"Talk to me," Eric ordered.

He knew he had no right to do so, but it was the way it had always been between the two of them. Reaching out, he brushed a bit of hair and tucked it behind her ears.

For just a moment, Pam deliberated over what to. She was queen – and she did not know how much she was and was not meant to tell Eric...

But then she thought, screw it. The two of them had been so close for so long. To keep this from him would be unnatural. And he was one of her husband's sheriffs. He had to know the full picture.

And so she told him everything – she left nothing out.

"So what you are telling me is nothing has changed?"

She had not thought about it that way. She had known she was a target before – and she was still a target.

"You can't let him scare or change you," he said as he raised his eye brow.

She hated the words she said next – but they were the truth.

"You're right."

Eric had soothed her and if she had denied it then all she was doing was turning herself into a fool. She had to stopped so many people doing that of late that she was going to be damned if she did it to herself.

When he stroked her check teaching out for her as he had so many times in the past, she was not quite sure how she was meant to respond.

She was a queen – she was his queen. "Pam."

Her eyes which had been averted for just a moment rose to look at him. Lord, how he had missed eye contract with her.

She smiled and he was sure she had been about to say something... something soft and sweet to him. He had not cared for her to be soft and sweet to him before.

He would have told her not to be so sentimental – but he longed for the hard edge she had always had to melt away just then.

But that was when the two of them both felt that something was amiss.

"Ginger," sighed Eric as he got up off of the sofa.

The two of them had both fed off of her over the years and they had both enjoyed doing so. She was in them as they were her. Together, the queen and sheriff rushed out to the corridor where they found her alone with a sheriff from New York.

She looked so relieved when she saw the two of them were there. She had been unhappy. She had felt threatened, realised Pam as she put hands on the shoulders of her human.

"Johnson, what are you doing?" she said with a raised eye brow.

"I was just talking to Miss Ginger here," he said before stopping. Eric took a step forward.

"Well I do not think Miss Ginger likes it when you talk to her," Pam growled as she gave her human a look. "Back upstairs dear."

She scuttled off and did as she was told.

"May I advise you it does not go down well in this palace when you intimidate the human which the queen keeps," said Pam as she squared up to the sheriff who instantly stepped back. After all there was nothing he could do against the queen in her own palace.

"Of course not, your majesty."

As if to back her up Eric stepped closer still and the sheriff bowed before moving off.

"We still got it," Eric purred as the perpetrated left their view.

"You don't lose what we had in three months," she turned to give him a smile. "Can whatever it is wait Eric? I have to go and see what all that was about with Ginger."

What was it he had come to see her about? Ahh, of course, he had come to ask her, arrogantly perhaps, if she wished to be released.

He had thought that was what she wanted – but that was not what he wanted.

"It is nothing that can't keep," he sighed and he watched as she walked away, her hips swaying as she did so.

_XXX_

As Pam headed up the stairs, she could feel her makers eyes were upon her. She resisted the urge to turn back around and catch his eye one last time, but before she gave in, she was up in to the corridor.

"Ginger," she called as she went in to the room her human had lived in since they had arrived at the palace. "What the fuck was going on there?" she said as her eye brow rose. She was not going to leave until she got her answer.

The bar maid looked at her.

Ginger knew she was not the brightest button in the box. But she knew something was up – and she was frightened. It was not as if she was a vamp, was it? If something happened then there was going to be very little she could do to protect herself. Nor was the queen was as devoted to her as she had been in the early days of her – reign?

After Eric had whisked Sookie off, Pam had needed someone to be there for her – and though his majesty had been very gracious and caring towards her, it had not been as if he was able to be there for her all of the time due to the fact he had a great many responsibilities. And so Pam, the owner of the busiest vamp bar in Louisiana and progeny of the great Viking had needed someone to be there – just to be there, whether it was so that she was able to hold her, or drink her or swear at her.

That task had fallen to little human her.

And because she knew the two of them belonged to one another, Ginger had accepted that as the way things should be – she had even enjoyed it. When she had been just a bar maid, she had not really thought she had been cared for and that was fine with her. But things had changed if only for a moment.

And she had felt loved.

Before the king had arrived on the scene, she had thought Pam and Bill had been playing with one another to begin with - for she had seen the way the two of them had been together in the past and she had not thought to see anything else develop. From the little she could remember from the affect of being glamoured so many times – they loathed each other.

Yet their relationship had turned tenderer.

And that had been fine because her mistress had still turned to her for help and for comfort when the day was done.

But the last few weeks – it was as if Bill and Eric were the only ones Pam had ever cared about once more. And after being cared for, to feel dismissed and insignificant once more...

Ginger sat on the edge of the bed. She was glad that her queen was doing so well – that she was settled into her marriage. And she was glad she and Eric were on speaking terms once more.

But more than anything she knew only two things. One, she missed the old days when she had been at Fangtasia. She missed being Eric's as well as the queens. And two... she did not want to die.

"He was just saying – nothing."

"Ginger, I felt what you felt and that was not nothing," Pam explained as she sat at her side. Running a hand through her humans hand, the queen looked at her intently.

She was going nowhere without her answer.

"He – he said I had no place here, he said I had no place in your world – or your life," she confessed. She had not wanted to say anything that would put her or the sheriff in danger. There was already too much danger already.

"That is not his decision," Pam said furiously. But it was not at Ginger – she couldn't be angry with her.

"No it isn't," not said the human as she gave a shy smile to her mistress. She had been both alarmed and relieved when she had seen her come round the corner when she had been with Johnson. She had had no idea how she was going to react.

But it seemed she cared enough to fight for her still.

"Is Mr Eric still here?" she asked. As much as she loved Pam and she did, she could not say she did not miss her master. She had belonged to him just as long as she had to Pam.

The queen shook her head as Ginger remembered what he had said to her the night the sheriffs had all come to the palace. If she could put a good word in for him then she was too do so. And she felt as if then was the ideal opportunity to do so.

"You know he is awful sorry for the way he ran off with Miss Sookie. He misses you."

"As I miss him. But there is no going back – not from what either of us did," Pam mused as she continued to stroke Gingers hair, tucking a strand back behind the girl's ear. "Perhaps when the contract is over the two of us shall go home. But that is not going to be any time soon," said the vamp as she came closer to the human and tempted her lips open as the two of them kissed, Pam giving to Ginger her favourite kind of comfort.

Ginger lay back and willingly gave herself up to Pam. There was something about doing it with a vamp that nothing else could match for her.

But for some reason that day, she was not as able to commit to proceedings as she might have done otherwise. She had heard the secrets and the whispers that were going around and she knew as a human she was vulnerable.

She did not want to be turned. But she did not want to die a human death – not yet.

And even she had the sense to be scared.

XXX

"So," said Godric as his son got back to Fangtasia, a look of subtle contentness on his face. It was a long time since Eric had even nearly been content. "She did not wish to be released."

"The queen and I did not discuss the matter," said Eric with a shrug as he realised she had been far too busy confiding in him to care what he had come to her over.

Godric gave him a quizzical look.

"The queen had much on her mind, as she ever does these days. I did not wish to over burn her with matters of no real consequence."

"I do not know if I would describe the nature of the bond the two of you share as of no real consequence."

"You know what I mean."

"No, I do not – and I am not sure if you do either." Said Godric. "What do you want, Eric? What do you _really_ want from life right now? It seems to me as if ever since that spell was cast upon you, you have not really known yourself – let alone the way you feel for anyone else."

If anyone else had dared to say anything of that sort to him then he would have torn there head from their body and drained them dry, Authority or no Authority.

But his maker said it with such concern and compassion that he knew he was not doing it to wind him up – but because he really did care.

Still, he had not the strength at that moment to answer was he was being asked. Not properly.

"What I want is for my lawyer to get back to me. That's what I really want."

If she was happy in her marriage and it was valid then there was little he could do – and he did not want to stand in the way of his precious darlings happiness; at least that was what he told himself. But if she was being made a fool out of then he had to know and so did she – and he did not know why, but he had this nagging doubt in the back of his mind that everything was not as it ought to be – and he had had to satisfy himself that he was wrong.

It was at that moment that Chow knocked on the door of the office.

"Master?"

"What is it?" he asked his underling.

"A summons from the king, for yourself and for the Sherriff of Texas."

_Please review!_

**Author Note**: Hey all – sorry about this chapter, not one of my better. I'm not sure if giving Ginger such clarity of thought works and I am still a little hesitant about posting this. I don't know if after all the glamouring she would be so coherent or so self aware, but she was the final main character I am yet to focus on. I needed to give her a bit of a voice. And to move the plot on as we move towards the first major twist.


	14. The Storm Gathers

**Chapter 14**

Due to the fact that he had seen Pam earlier that night, Eric could have missed the meeting which the king had called and still be up to speed. There was nothing really new. Just a reminder to remain on guard and advice on how to best protect human staff and human lovers and preserve your favourite blood bag...

His mind crossed the church yard and he hoped Bill would have the good sense to put protection around Sookie giving her history with Edgington.

He was sure he would – Bill was supposedly no longer in love with her – but she was far more use to him alive than dead.

"As for our human staff my dear, they are not to leave the palace without expressed permission from either one of us or Jess. It is not safe for us not to know any more. No one is allowed to come or go as they please," Bill told his wife once that the meeting had been dispersed, holding on to her hand as she sat on the edge of his desk.

"I agree."

"What have the humans so far said about all of this, Bill?" asked Jess wondering how much he had filled them in on.

"Enough for them to know they have to take precautions, but not so much that they panic I hope. I am not going to have any one panicking," Bill mused. Breathing in deeply, he realised how long it had been since he had had a drink.

"I need a True Blood."

"I can think of things which would be more fulfilling," his wife said slightly wickedly and the smile she wore made him roll his eyes.

Deep down, she was the Pam that he had met all those years ago – and loathed. He was beginning to appreciate her more though.

Kissing her hand, he sighed.

XXX

When Godric had last seen the queen she had been petulant – she had been sad and she had been rather confused – she herself had admitted it.

But now she had clearly got a grip back on herself.

She was acting like a queen even if she did not have perhaps the dignity that he would have a queen embody. She was a young vamp in a role that she was in his opinion too much of a baby to fill.

But she was doing well, as was the king.

Given everything that had gone on, he knew there would be many a maker furious with Bill over the way he had treated Eric. But that was not his way – and the Viking was more than able to take care of himself. As he tried to become his old self once more, the last thing his progeny needed was for him to go unnecessarily into battle for him.

Eric had to reassert himself and he could not be molly coddled – not that his maker had ever molly coddled him – not in the way that Eric had done with the young Pamela.

On seconds thoughts perhaps molly coddled was not the right way to put it – but he had spoiled her to the point of no return – and now they were all reaping the results.

He had thought Eric was a good maker and at the time it had worked. But now he was not sure if he had been, or he himself had been. Something had gone awry...

No matter. They had to deal with the new situation but it was quite apparent that Pam was doing that without a second though – in fact she was doing so in her stride.

It was Eric who was having a hard time with it – and as the two of them stood watching the king and the queen together, Godric felt Eric's blood rise in anger.

"What is it my child?"

He did not know. He understood that he had to get used to seeing the king with his queen. It did not look as if the royal pair were going to be seeking out the divorce court any time soon.

Yet, just that evening when she had confided in him, when they had had that moment together seeing off the sheriff from Ginger it had felt as if – the spark had returned.

As if the last million months of bullshit had not happened. Ever since she had been a baby vamp the two of them had been so in sync with one another.

The understanding, the trust, the loyalty which had been between them had been what the two of them had based their lives on. It had been the constant – and yet despite the century of closeness, it was still gone.

Eric Northman did not know why it was not breaking her up inside as it was him. But it had broken her up, hadn't it? It had broken her when he had been away forgetting everything and everyone who was not himself the prize he had so cherished for such a short space of time. He was not going to feel guilty for loving such a woman.

He stood by that at the time it had been the right thing for him as well as the right thing for Sookie.

But it had not been the right thing for Pam. She had broken down and she had had to put herself back together in the only way that she knew how. And that had been by going to Bill and by making herself even stronger than she had been when the two of them were a team.

The anger he felt towards himself: Bill: Pam: it all came flooding back.

And the resolve he had had that morning returned.

"Majesty, may I speak with you?" he asked as he approached his progeny.

Just as Godric had felt the change in him, so had Pam. Unable to think what exactly was the cause of his anger, she nodded.

"I will just take the sheriff into the gardens," she said as she left the kings side and lead Eric through the palace.

"What the fucks going on?"

"Me – being a fucking fool – well, no more Pam." He said as he shook his hand.

Ever since he got back he felt as if he had been waiting for the whole bloody nightmare to an end but she was not ending it – she was just making it worse. She had no thoughts of going back to their home. She was staying and she was flirting with Bill.

"I have said I am sorry, now can we resolved this thing? Pam the two of us cannot go on like this."

"That's a shame because as far as I am concerned we are going to have to for the next decade at least," she said staring him in the eye. She had thought he was getting use to seeing her at the side of the king but apparently she had got that very wrong.

"You answer me something here and now – is it your wish for me to formally release you from the bond that ties us together?"

The shock at way he had said was written over her face he was glad to see. Somewhere in side of her was the vamp who had survived the magister – the beloved child who had pleaded with him not to walk in the sun with Edgington the first time he had wrecked havoc in there lives.

He had told her once that he always loved her more when she was cold and heartless. But the truth was he had always loved her best when she had been at her warrior best, when she had been fighting for the things which she held dear in her cold heart.

That had been before the Emporium though. How had they been blown so far off course?

"That is your decision as a maker, you are just meant to know when I am ready to be set free, –" she said naively, but then she released who she was. She was the queen. And she was not naive.

What did she want? Did she want their bond to be broken? "I am not yours to release."

"Well, then I may as well say the words any way – if this is the end of us."

"Only if you can't be bothered to wait for me," Pam challenged.

After all he had said... after all they had both done. "What? What for you to be through playing prince and princess with a Victorian prude who can't be himself for fear of what was society thinks he is. Grow up."

Putting his hands on her shoulders, Eric looked straight in to the eyes of the child he had always adored but now found himself unable to control.

"Pamela Swynford De Beaufort, as your maker I – "

"ERIC!" Godric came to the garden and broke the silence between the two of them as well as the moment, just before Eric said the last words.

Maker and progeny both looked to the elder vamp.

"The king needs you – there's been a development."

Pam knew full well, if he did not say it all then the words didn't count. He had to finish – but to finish he had to start again.

Tearing his eyes away from her, he seemed to take a deep breath, something which had always struck her as a stupidly human gesture when none of them had to do it.

Looking at him daringly, knowing he had to do it then of he was going to do it, she raised an eye now. A white rage spread from her to him in that moment, an anger such as the like she had never felt before.

But he turned from her and he went in to the house. She felt the tension in the air disappear; it was replaced by emptiness.

A nothingness.

He had been about to release her.

And it made her feel so many things she couldn't say. She felt lost, and sad, and angry, and disappointed and free and resentful.

She was already the queen – how on earth could she be released? But she was his progeny and they had been together for over a century. How could he release her?

No, she had got her head straight for the first time in weeks, in months, - she was not going to let him mess it up for her.

He was a prat and he was an arse.

But – why did she suddenly she wanted to turn back the clock – why did she none of this had happened?

She did not think she had ever hated Marnie for taking her Eric away from her so much.

Had that damn witch not come then none of this would have happened. None of this would have come to pass.

And there would not be pieces of shattered hearts all over Louisiana.

XXX

She had broken when she had heard that she had to stay in the palace. So odd, she had been there of her free will for so long – and then the minute she was told she had to stay, she wanted out.

After the kings announcement Ginger had gone straight to her room to pack – but then why was she packing? When she got back to some sort of civilisation then she was going to buy herself new things from the wages that were in her bank account.

All she knew was she had to get out at last. She had been part of a world she did not belong in for far too long.

She had to get out. But the only thing was how? If she went to the queen and was asked to be released she – she did not know how she was going to react to that. She feared that she would be furious with her for wanting to go. She feared that she would let her go without a fight.

And she did not think she was going to be able to get round the king that easily either. If she went to him he was sure to go to the queen to see what she thought. Ginger was pretty sure that he was not going to risk upsetting his marriage again for her sake.

No – she could not go to either his or her majesty.

She had to go Jess if she wanted to get out.

Or she just had to make a run for it - which seemed much easier at that moment. And much preferable.

She had thought it would be a struggled to escape. But as rumours flew round and fear took hold, fear of the unknown, it actually proved quite easy to do so.

As soon as she had got out of the palace Ginger felt as if she was able to breathe a little easier. As if something was lifted off of her shoulders.

She had not thought to leave the queen when she had come with her to the palace.

Feeling the night breeze in her hair, the petite blonde smiled. Then she ran. And she was not going to stop until she made it all the way back to Shreveport.

XXX

Pam was still not feeling very steady in spite of herself as she went back into the palace. She knew if she was a trained queen, then she would have gone straight to the side of her king and husband.

But she was still young. And apparently she was still not as good controlling herself or her emotions as she had thought.

_He _had come to release her and she had done it already. And so it was not as if she could be hurt by it, was it? But she had never thought the two of them would come to that moment in time.

Maybe she should have seen it coming.

But she must have been blind.

She felt too much.

Pulling herself together she had been just about ready to go to Bill when she felt a pain of the like such as she had never felt inside of her chest – and for one awful minute she thought it was Bill or Eric and something had gone really wrong.

But no – it was not either of them.

If it was not then that only left...

'Ginger'...

Please review!

_Author Note: Hey everyone, can I just say thank you so much for the feedback I am getting on this fic? I love getting your reviews._

_However, I know some of you aren't too keen on how the Eric/Sookie and Eric/Pam thing is playing out so I wanted to try and explain my thoughts on it a bit more._

_The way Sookie is being treated here by Eric is obviously my fault. I get that he has been inconsistent with her – but in my mind it made sense somehow. Initially after getting his mind back he stayed true to her and I do stand buy that he did love her, in this fic and especially on the show. But as a long term couple I don't buy them. As a non TV shipper (I love them together in the books) I just wanted them apart. Sookie irrates me and I just don't think they'd go the distance. They just don't click in my brain. Both of them need someone different and in their own ways deeper than the other in my mind._

_I try to keep the resentment thing subtle. I think actually Eric resented his own behaviour more than Sookie. She just became a convenient symbol for how much his life had altered. If that didn't come across, perhaps some rewriting on my part is needed._

_So when they arrived home from Rome to find that everything had changed in there absence, I'd hoped to show a rather confused Eric try to get his handle back on life and to find a way back to a life which he had loved, only to find with Pam gone he couldn't._

_The dynamic between the two of them had changed. She had been disloyal in his eyes, she was no longer subservient in any way (not that she had often been before) and was now queen so this pull and push over the last few chapters begun, the culmination of which you have just read. The strange battle for dominance which was really no competition was born out of confusion and the new awkwardness between them, mixed with their long and passionate history._

_I hope for you guys who have had issues with the portrayals of the characters can see where I'm coming from now. If not, I love to dissect them so please PM me with any further questions._

_Thanks again for the reviews guys!_


	15. The Search

**Chapter 15**

"So it was Edgington all along," said Bill to his sheriffs as he looked at the cold evidenced that he had indeed been the one to slay Ogden- or not, as it has seemed.

Ogden had been a warning to all his kind – the kind to take a human as a mate.

It seemed that Mr. Edgington had decided not only were humans not his equal but so were all of those who were not of his own opinion. He was prepared to spill the blood of all those vampires who did not agree with him and the easiest way to get rid of all those who he would not have been among his own kind way to give them to the drainers.

"Desecration of the blood, betrayal of everything we are meant to believe in," said Eric as he stood at the side of his own maker.

He knew he was hardly guiltless. He had sold V in the past and of he had to do so to get a bit of quick cash in the future and he did not suppose he would have too many moral scruples to overcome to do so once more.

But to willingly work with people who were going to drain others Vampires... he did not know where his stock had come from.

Now, there was a line and he drew it there.

Suddenly, everything else seemed so insignificant and for the first time in days his head was not clouded by thoughts of any women. He had to be a political being once more.

"All under our protection must be warned," said Bill as he considered what was to come.

"And so they will be," said Quentin Roosevelt nodding, "Sire, may I suggest that all our fellow sheriffs go back to our own area while we decide what is to be done. All our vassals must be warned," referring to the foreign help.

Bill nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that is for the best... If our friends from aboard would be willing to do so."

As the eldest and the most respected of the vamps from across state lines, Godric nodded. "If that is what your majesty would have us do."

"It is – and can someone call her majesty." It was one of those moments when he felt not only should his wife be at his side but one of the time when he wanted her with him too. After the awkwardness between them at the beginning he wanted them to be united.

Eric was too focused to worry over her at that moment. As long as she was in the palace, that was enough to keep her from harm.

XXX

Pam did not know why when she had felt Ginger in trouble that she had gone to her room. It was pretty clear that if she was in pain and if she was in trouble she was not going to be within the palace walls. But then she had been the last time had she not?

But as soon as she got into the room the stillness and the coldness of the room got to her.

It got to her as soon as she went into the room.

"Ginger," yelled Pam as she checked in the wardrobe and under the bed.

She had known she was not going to be in either of those places. But she had felt as if she had had to check. She had been obliged to.

_Think, De Beaufort, think. _

First she had to be able to think calmly if she was going to be able have time to herself.

And so she did something which she did not know if she was being very wise. She shut the way she was feeling to Bill and Eric off.

She knew if the king had called her sheriff to his side then it was not going to be to wipe up a bottle of True Blood. No, it was going to be something to do with Russell Edgington. She knew as Queen that she should be her main priority.

But at that moment all she was really after was Ginger. All she could even think of was Ginger. The two of them had been through since the Moon Goddess Emporium.

She had been so loyal to her for so long. She had been her only friend, the only one with who she could trust had her true interest at heart.

And so she had to get to her and help her if she could. She may be an idiot but she was her human.

If her heart did not beat, then the one thing that was for sure was that it could break. She had leant that to her own pain of late.

And then there was a pain in her chest once more. It was getting worse.

And whatever was going on it was not in the palace.

She knew Bill had said none of them were to leave the house but if Ginger had been fast during the chaos then she could of got out and she had to go after her.

XXX

It was time like these that Pam wished she was older.

If she was then she would be faster and she would be stronger. If she was Eric's age then who knew what she would be capable of by now. She might be able to fly or be invisible and so she would be able to locate Ginger so much faster.

But as it was she knew she had to deal with what she was at the age she was.

And so she allowed herself to pull through to the only bound she cared for at that moment - the one she had with her human.

The first thing which she felt was fear.

And she felt so small and helpless. If she was honest with herself she had got that vibe off of her for days but she had ignored it. She did care for her. But Ginger was going to die - she was human.

And so she was never going to care for her as she did a Vamp.

But the two of them were bounded together no matter what.

And that was why that as she felt her human get weaker so did she.

Just for a moment.

And then she got pissed.

XXX

Bill knew it was not going to be very long until Russell came for his fight. And he was not going to give up until he had had it. And he was going to give it everything he had.

But so were they.

Turning around, he looked at the only sheriff who could really help him at that moment.

"You are two thousands years old now, Godric," sighed Bill.

"Eric is a thousand years old and the queen and I, wherever she is, are both to celebrate are two hundredth birthdays yet. If together we took him on we may have a chance..."

"But I am your best hope."

"Yes."

"I came here to help defend, you, your realm and the progenies of my blood. If I can save you I will."

"That I all I wanted to hear."

Bill and Godric shared a smile – a sad one but it was a smile nevertheless.

"Your majesty," Jess said, as she came in to the room without so much as knocking. Her maker knew something was wrong as soon as she came into the room.

He could smell her nervous state.

He rose to greet her.

"What is it, Jess?" Bill asked – he knew it was something – something he did not want to hear.

"I looked for the queen in her rooms but she was not there."

"Where else could she be? Does she know what is happening with Russell Edgington? Who saw her last?"

He knew the many questions which he had raced out of his month of hearing the queen was gone panicked Jess, not that they were even specifically directed at her. It reminded her of the way he had spoken to her when she had been very newly made. She did not appreciate it.

As if she was a child. She was a lot more now.

But she had to give her maker and her king the only answer she had.

"She's not here."

Bill had to think over his next move very carefully. His natural reaction was the one which any loving husband would have upon hearing that news over his wife.

He had to go and get her, save her himself, send out others to search for her too... But was that just what he had felt for her personally? For all that he would hate to admit it, he was still getting used to being a king and he did not always know if he was making the right call.

And this was his greatest challenge yet.

But then their union was not a private one. It seemed to him in fact that it was a very public one.

She was the queen of his kingdom and there was a vampire who was not very far away who would gladly see her dead.

Of course he could justify a search for her.

What had he been thinking?

"Search the palace grounds."

XXX

Pam was out in the grounds of the palace before she had time to consider what she was doing. The small part of her which was in her right mind at that moment said it was a bad idea to go any further than she already had. What would be an even worse idea was to leave the palace of said palace grounds.

But she was sure that was where Ginger was.

And so she had to go after her.

XXX

Eric had tried as hard as he could not to focus in on Pam. There were so any other things he had to think of.

He had to be a businessmen as well as a sheriff before he was anything else in that instance. He had been earlier that evening... but...

In his long life, he had got used to the idea of duty, in a way he never had when he was that young prince who he knew had given his father so many headaches.

But that was not always the easiest thing to do. He had different duties. Up until the past half a year or so, one of the ones which he had always taken most seriously was the one had to and with Pam and Godric. After so long of having that kind of mind set, it was hard to change it and even more so after everything that had gone on of late.

Even though he was trying to think about his area more than his private life, he could not resist to try and reach his progeny only to find he could not.

Obviously that in itself was not as unusual as it might have been at one stage in their life together. Eric was almost used to it. But he knew in his heart there was more to it.

This was different.

And then no matter what, he knew he was not going to be satisfied until he had got to see her for himself.

Turning from the living room where the other area sheriffs were waiting for their orders, he went to the office of the king where it was clear all was not well in spite of the fact king had his very best poker face on.

"I need to speak with the queen," Eric demanded as soon as he went into the room. He had too. And he was not going to be refused.

Before he had gone into the room, he had known that she was not going to be in there, even if he had hoped against hope that she was going to be.

But the only progeny who as there was King Bills. His own was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is she?" He had not thought it was going to come out so fiercely but it did as his paternal streak came to the fore.

He once again turned to young Jessica Hamby with her bloody eyes.

It was not only that fact that Bill had scared her. The young vamp was crying because didn't know where the only vamp in the world who could be as a mother to her was. The only mother in the world she wanted.

Knowing Bill was not going to give Eric a straight answer from the look on his face, Jess decided she would. "We are not sure."

Eric felt for the girl but the answer she had given to him was not good enough. They were going to have to change that.

XXX

After so long of being so sad and having to put herself under the protection of powerful men, it felt good for Pam to be going out and fighting for those she loved herself.

She had been sitting tight for so long – she was so ready for a fight. To be herself once more. No more static good little wifey, if she had ever been that.

She followed the link which was between her and Ginger and within minutes she was by the side of her human...

But she was shocked by the way she found her... Ginger was on the floor and she was chained down as if she was a vampire waiting to be drained. And it made no sense to Pam in the first instance.

When Ginger saw her the first thing that Pam felt was her fear. She did not know how on earth she was going to react to her running off, just when she was in some ways needed by her the very must.

But the petite blonde knew her mistress. The two of them had been so very intimate for so long. And it was not rage she saw when she looked into the eyes on her mistress. It was love and it was sure pure and intimate at that moment that Ginger was sure her heart would break.

It was not the same way she looked at Eric or even Bill. But it was not so very far off.

"You dumb bitch," Pam said accusingly as she looked into the doe like eyes of her human.

As she sat by Ginger, Pam ran a hand through her hair. She was so glad she was safe. She was so glad to have her in her arms.

"Pam – you need to run." Ginger whispered to her as she clung to her. The human did not know how much good it was going to now, but she felt as if she had had to try and save her. Ginger had left Pam but it did not mean that she had not seen her through some of the very darkest days of her life. She wanted her to be safe. She wanted her to go back to Eric.

"I do not think that I could have put it better myself," she heard a southern drawl in her ear which she had in fact been dreading even if she had not known it.

"If it is not the vampire queen of Louisiana," said Russell Edgington with mirth and victory in his voice in equal measure. "What a coup."

_Please review!_

Author Note: how adorable were Kristin and Alex at comic con? I love them so much!


	16. Tied To The End

**Chapter 16**

"She is not in the palace and she is not in the grounds. If we want to find her, then we are going to have to widen the search," said a member of staff to Bill. "Your majesty, I think we are going to have to do this as quickly as we can to give the queen her very best chance."

What was unsaid was what rang in Bills ears more than anything else.

He tried as hard as he could to reach his wife through their bond. He could not. If she was with Edgington then he was sure she would let him know.

That was what any sane wife of a powerful king would do. But Pamela was not any wife.

She was a young vamp who was longing to assert herself.

"Damn it," he sighed as he put his head in his hands.

It was just all too much of a coincidence. Russell Edgington was back and now the queen was gone. He did not buy that they were not together.

"He has her and I know it is my heart," he brooded. "Widen the search."

For Eric, he did not know if that was going to be enough. There was not a lot more anyone was going to be able to do. But all he knew was he so wanted her to be with him there at that moment.

Or even better, for the two of them to be back at their own place in Shreveport. For the love of him at that second, he did not know why he had put himself through the stress of being a maker, of being _her_ maker. And for love of her that was never going to change.

Xxx

For the second time that night, Pam wished she was older and stronger than she was. It had been many a moon since she had felt her youth so intensely.

Russell had not waited to strike once he had made his presence known – or at least his Hench men had not.

Pam had been quick to try to fight back – but she had not been quick enough.

She knew the heavies were older than she was – at a guess she would put them at five hundred.

Too old for her to take on by herself.

And so within minutes after what had been for the queen an all too brief struggle, Pam found herself on the grounds of the woodland next to Ginger, with silver covering her ankles and wrists as well as her stomach. This was about as low as it had got since the magister had made her his guest.

Everything begun to hurt in an instant and her skin burnt. Every time she had not been silvered for a while she forgot just how painful it could be. But, by god, it hurt like hell that night.

"I had hoped I was going to get a chance to bend my knee to this century old upstart bitch but never did I dream I was going to get such a intimate meeting with her majesty," mocked Edgington as he looked down on her.

Pam heard his cronies laugh and wondered if boys ever did grow up in the end, was this all just a game to them? Because to her it was her life. It was the life of her friends...

"Well, you know the south. We are just famous for our hospitality," she said with a smile.

Russell Edgington might get to see her bleed that night. He might even be the one to serve her the true death.

But if he thought he was going to get to see her fear then he was even more of a fucking fool than she thought he was. She knew him and she had known a thousand other men like him to one degree of another. He was not as unique as he believed himself to be.

"I forgot how spunky this was one... Mrs. Compton, it is an honour."

"If that was the case then you would continue to address me as your majesty," Pam pointed out sharply. He would not make her forget who she was. Her name was not Eric after all.

"I had a feeling you might make such a request but you see, or perhaps not, you are not the type of queen I would bend my knee to."

"And what type is that?"

"Well, shall we look at the evidence?" Russell asked as his eyes flashed to Ginger who was for once too scared even to scream.

"I am a vampire, Mrs Compton. I have been so for three thousand years. I think I know a bit more about being a vampire than you so hear me say this to you. Humans were not put on this earth to be our beloved friends. Nor were they meant to be out play things, though even I will concede they can be fun for that."

"I will remember to say so to the king when I recount this to King Bill later."

"Make sure that you do. Now just so I can be sure you are taking away the right lessons from our little chat; what are humans? A process of elimination leads us to the conclusion they are food."

"I agree."

Pam voice was dripping with sarcasm. If there was one thing in the world she hated above all others it was to be patronised. After all - she was the _intelligent_ whore.

Her eyes flipped to Ginger. If there was one thing in the world the petite blonde was not, it was intelligent, though it did seem she had the good sense to be scared and if the two of them were on their own then Pam would have reached out to comfort her. She owed her that after all she had done for her.

But it did sting in realise after all that they had been through together that she had tried to run from her.

Part of Pam did understand though. She could see why Ginger had done it. Maybe the two of them would talk it through when they got back to the palace.

Yet it did hurt Pam that she could not so much as offer her friend a brave smile to get the two of them through it.

"And so they are. To be seen to care for one make a vamp appear weak. And for a queen to do so it would be even more so. Tell me Queen Pamela, do you care for your human? "

Making a snap decision that disaffection afforded ginger more protection than love, Pam made her reply.

"No." She had to spit out the word for it hurt her to say it. But she was all which stood between Ginger and a very true human death.

She could not let her die. She, Pamela, queen of Louisiana, did rely on that idiotic human.

She knew she had said it with such a force, that some would believe it. For example, Ginger herself.

But it seemed to her even before she knew what Edgington's next move was that he would at least have to try and test the theory.

Pam knew he did not move as fast she he might have for she was able to track his every move as he walked over to her human and stood over Ginger.

Now Pam was able to smell as well as feel the woman's fear.

And she wanted to kill the elder vampire for what he was putting her through. Ginger belonged to her. He should not be touching her.

_She is mine._

There was only one another vampire in the world who might be able to feel Gingers fear. But he had not drunk from her for over six months, thanks to various circumstances. That bond might have severed.

"Are you sure you do not care for her, _your majesty_? I can see why you would. She is very pretty as far as – what do you call them – oh yes, fang bangers go," Pam saw Edgington and the way that he had spat the terminology out. Apparently it did not fit in well with his view of the dignity of their race.

"She is nothing to me," Pam said with equal force as she tried to convince him.

"Well then it is going to be nothing to you if I put an end to her, it is?"

"Don't mind me…"

And then he moved to break Gingers neck. Pam had a good poker face – but it was nothings on Edgington's.

She had come to save Ginger and that was what she was going to do if she could just get her way.

"Please."

She had not meant to beg but she had nothing left. She couldn't just let her die. He had felt Ginger's eyes on her and turned to met them at last.

The ghost of the women Ginger had been was on her face at that moments and Pam saw the young women who had come into Fangtasia for the first time.

And she had been so young when she had walked through that door. Not very bright but sweet.

And far too trusting.

In spite of the fact she had been in a low cut top and was in one of the shortest skirts Pam had _ever_ seen, she had been able to tell that Ginger was not going to be an average fan banger. She had had more about her.

"So you do care for her?"

With great reluctance Pam nodded.

"What a pity –" Russell said and it was. It was at that moment, he snapped her neck. Ginger was dead, her death being quick and painless in the end. It was a relief and ended her terror.

Ginger would not scream any more.

XXX

It was not as strong as it might have been in another life, one where Ginger had worked in the club all the way up to the moment of her death... yet Eric knew the moment the deed was done. As unexpected as it was, he had no time to hide what happened from the others or to prepare himself for the pain he suddenly felt.

"It is Pam?" asked Jess as she rushed to his side, noticing his expression change.

Before Eric had a chance to reply, Bill shock his head. "If it was the queen, I would have felt it to," He could only pray it was the truth. Selfishly, he did not think he could bare it if Pam had allowed Eric in to her feelings but shut him out, even at a time such as this.

But with a shake of his head, Eric confirmed it was not his Pamela who he had felt.

"It was Ginger," He said as he kicked himself.

Why did it seem to him that just when they all had to be more on the ball than ever, none of them were even seeming to try and pick up the pace?

Why had he not picked up on the fact Ginger was as missing as her mistress.

What he had to do now was to look at the bigger picture.

He found he was only capable of drawing one conclusion.

If it was Ginger in danger than Pamela had to be with her. That was where his child was.

The women he had just spent the last hundred years with was in more extreme danger than he had dare think. Than he had wanted to think. And as the breath left Ginger body's for the last time, he found the bond which could have lead him to his most beloved child died with her.

He had been told that the loss of one's child was the deepest of despair but he was not willing to find out if that was the truth. It was unimaginable...

For all that there was between the two of them Eric had always tried his best to show respect to the privacy of his progeny's feelings. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and he would damn his soul to hell before he let her die.

_Let me through Pamela..._

XXX

Pam allowed herself to be numb for one a mili-second after Ginger was taken from her. It did not seem real to her. The two of them had been through so much together. For her to watch powerless as her friend met a premature death was painful beyond words and confirmed to her that she had underestimated the depth of her feeling for Ginger.

"You bastard," said the queen simply as she regathered herself.

"Oh, my sweet little pigeon do not distress yourself. We both know there are plenty more where she came from."

The insinuation Ginger could be so easily replaced infuriated Pam to such a degree that she tried her hardest to fight back against the chains which were binding her so tightly. Why she had not done it sooner? Why had she not done more to fight for the life of her friend?

And then she realised – because it was a pointless exercise.

She was trapped. Utterly bound and there was just nothing she could do to escape.

She had never been so powerless in her life.

"I have a gift for you," Russell told her as he pulled out a fine silver locket and chain from his pocket – from Tiffany's if she was not much mistaken. "Allow me to pledge my fealty," he mocked her.

"Do you power seeking arse holes share a fucking brain?" Pamela asked. Surely, they had too.

"Oh, that does not sound a lot like gratitude to me. I would think such a queen as yourself would show a bit more gratitude to her elders. "

She would show him none. She had met his kind before. She did not have to ask what it was he wanted from her for she knew. He was longing for her to beg to be forgotten. For her to say sorry for all her sins which he saw in her. For her to be sorry for all she was.

Which she never was going to be.

She held her tongue.

In spite of the burning of her wrists, ankles and stomach she was able to enjoy the fury her defiance inspired in him. She was in a very small way winning.

But as she looked in to his eyes she saw them grow dark and she recalled to her mind the way she saw him rip out the spleen of the news reader.

For someone who had been buried under concrete for the past year he did not look so bad. She was sure he had fed – he must have drunk deep from a pretty little well to regain his health as he had.

He was another year old.

He was another year stronger.

And she was growing weaker.

She knew she had to set aside her pride.

"It is going to be sun rise soon _your majesty_. As you know from our previous meeting, I am yet to find a way to walk in the sun. I need to make for ground as do my friends here. I have a few things which need looking after - can you do it for me as you aren't going anywhere?"

Needles, tubes and more chains.

"You're going to drain me."

Russell Edgington heavies moved forward to hook her up. "Correction – we are draining you."

XXX

As the first rays of light came through the trees, Pamela learnt an old saying was true. As you neared death you did see your life flash before your eyes.

She saw her mother and her father. She saw Victorian London – a place she had hated when she had been there but now felt a nostalgia for all of a sudden.

She saw herself running the brothel where she had worked from the moment her mother had thrown her out of the house where she had been raised. She saw Eric as he was the first time they met. And her heart ached for it...

She felt burning fires and icy waters. She saw meadows and war zones. She felt love making and heard arguments. The night she and Eric had opened Fangtasia.

The night she met Ginger.

Her mind jumped to her marriage. Bill and Jess and then with Godric in the gardens.

It hadn't started off as a love match...

And then she remembered how it felt to crawl out of the ground with Eric the night she had been born in to her new life.

He had held her under the ground so tenderly. And when the two of them had crawled out of the grave he had dug for her, he had said they were both reborn. That with her birth a new chapter of his own life had begun.

But now she was at the end of everything. It was over and she knew she was not going to get a chance to say good bye to Jess, Godric or Bill.

But it was her hero she wanted more than anyone else, above all others.

Just one more time. That was it. Let me see him just one more time...

Setting all else aside, including her famous and stubborn pride, she reached for Eric longingly to feel the connection. For him to be the last being she had contact with.

"Eric."

Nearing the veil as she was, Pam had not registered Russell was yet to leave her. Now did she hear his parting shot.

"Pamela Swynford de Beautfort – the queen who never was."

However, Russell was only too aware as the bodies of his two helpers thudded to the grounds.

"You took your time," he said casually to the Sherriff of Area Five and the King of Louisiana.

"Get away from my child you son of a whore."

_Please review!_

_Author Note:_ Please don't hate me too much for this chapter! I'm so nervous over posting this – as in the most I have been over a chapter in a long time... next one_ should _be out before/on Friday!


	17. Dawn Approaches

**Chapter 17**

Eric had gone up to Gingers room when he had realized that was what they should have done from the start. It was not much but it was a starting point. It was only in fact minutes but he felt as if he had been trying to get through to Pam for hours. He knew only that she was in a headstrong and determined mood if she was not careful, then it was going to get her killed.

Eric's concern for his only progeny far exceeded the grief he felt for Ginger.

He had been alive too long to grieve as he had as a human. He felt a sadness for Ginger though. And that was brought home to as he sat on the bed.

Yes he would miss her.

He had been in the room on his own for about five minutes when there was a knock on the door.

"They are here," Bill's little red head told him as she came into the room with tears smudges all down her face still.

Her distress was plan to see on her pale face.

It had been Jess's idea to try and get Sookie as well as her friend Amelia to come over a do a reconstruction spell in Ginger's room.

Had Pam gone after her as they had assumed or had the two of them run together? He had so many questions and so few answers. It was the sheer frustration of it all which he could not bear.

It was too much.

When Sookie walked into the she knew there would be a natural awkwardness between the two of them and then she considered the gravity of the situation and it did not seem to matter very much.

She did not know what was going on with Eric and Pam and nor did she think she was ever going to work them out.

But the one thing she did know was at the end of the day how much the two of them cared about one another - how close they were. She could also read it in him he was never going to be able to find a way past it if he did not see his child to safety night. The game, the dance which had gone on between them was over. It was about survival.

She walked into the room to find there was not even a ghost of a smile on his face.

Only the ghost of who he was...

The last time she had seen him thus was the night when he had through he was going to lose Godric. She and the rest of the world could think what they liked about the way he conducted himself and the way he did his business but at the end of the day, he was not so very different to a lot of other family men all over Louisiana.

It seemed to her at times that vampires were among the most human of all creatures. As the two of them looked at each other neither of them knew what to say. After all, what did you say to your ex vampire lover who feared for the life of his only progeny?

She had no idea.

The two of them might be over but the fact the two of them had at least tried to part of friends made it easier.

As she sat by him, she took his hand. The two of them agreed that words were redundant.

He turned to her with his intense eyes; the two of them had been through so much. The past few years, everything they had got through and survived. They would all get through this too. And they was when she saw him shiver. Eric faced bunched up as if he had been staked through the heart.

"Is it Pam? Can you feel her?"

"Yes I can feel her," he said as he vamped it out of the room. As ever her human eyes could not register the movement.

All she did know was that by the time she got down the stairs not only was Eric gone but so were Bill and Godric. Practically all the Vampires she had got to know since she had learnt of their world. If they had all gone then it had to be bad.

Only Jess remained and she looked as if she was distraught.

"He told me I have to stay in the house, he fucking commanded me!" said the teen as she sat on the floor. There was no other thing she could do. "After all, Bill and I have been through I thought that he trusted me."

"He does. Oh Jess I am sure he does. He just wants you to be safe and protect you. He has gone to save Pam, the last thing in the world he needs something to happen to you."

Sookie sat down by Jess and put her hand on her knee. Sometimes because Jess was a vampire, she forgot she had barely been on the earth for twenty years. She was not like Bill, Eric or Pam.

She was little more than a teenager who was still trying really hard to figure out who she was.

All she could do was sit back with her until the others got back.

XXX

The threat which Eric had given to Russell Edgington was very real. The old king of Mississippi may have had two thousand years on him but Eric had the fiery need to protect one who he loved. And at that moment he would be willing to go toe to toe with him for however long it took.

But they were on a time limit. It was not going to very long until the morning sun rise.

Eric knew by the time that it did Pam had to be away. If she was not then she was going to fry like an egg in no time. The sight of her on the floor next to Ginger was going to be the only thing he saw when he shut his eyes for the rest of his life.

She had to get some blood into her system.

She was so pale. Even for a vampire.

"I can't say I was that fond of my mother either from what I recall."

Eric did not know why on earth he had not seen that answer coming from a mile off.

"So here it is, Mr. Northman. You and your king here did not think you were going get away with what you did to me, did you? It does seem as it Pam here is paying the price. The two of you maybe, as they say, more my types but I so did prefer my sweet little muffin Sophie Anne as Louisiana's monarch.

"Mr Northman I do not think you are quite listening to me." Russell said as he noted how transfixed the sheriff was on the static body of his progeny. "It does not dull you know; you will have to live with the pain of losing your progeny for all eternity."

"We will both be damned if she dies," Bill waded in.

"Oh if it is not the protective hubby? But then it is_ not _it is?"

Bill knew Eric was going to have a few questions for him over that one later. But they were on the same team for now.

"What you are doing is treason and on her life, I will see you die for what you are doing to her," Bill growled.

When he had said to the Authority that he would be king – well, it had not been a decision he had taken lightly. He would do his duty.

As soon as the words left his lips, Russell Edgington begun to laugh.

Clearly he did not have a lot of faith in his ability to see the threat through.

"Yes because killing me worked last time did it not?"

"Only because Sookie dragged you in after my mistaken attack of conscience. She is not here to save you this time and I will not make that mistake again." Growled Eric.

"How is the little fairy princess? I will have to pay her a call and say hi while I am in town."

Bill and Eric were already on the defence. Both had hurt and been hurt by Sookie in the past. Perhaps neither of them had known how much they did care for her still.

Yet the two Vampires were willing to go to her defence at that moment.

Russell Edgington would not get a chance to hurt her.

"So which one of you is going to kill me and teach me this lesson? It does seem as if this is the night for education. I tried to teach young Pam a few things about the ways of the world but I only fear how she will not be able to put it to good use which is such a pity."

Had it not been for the soothing presence of his maker at that moment, Eric knew he would have gone for Russell, age gap or not. He was not going to allow him to use his girl as bait. That was not going to happen.

But it already had.

"Neither of them. This has to stop." Godric long stopped being as important. As Eric and Bill were and so even thought he had held back from going out into the clearing, "if you let her majesty go now you will live. If not, then we will a stake in you by the end of the night."

"Strong words for a very vampire who is meant to be so big on peace these days. But then I forget the queen in nothing but name is as a matter of speaking your beloved granddaughter."

"There is nothing 'in a way' about it. What is it you want from us?" as much as he was very sure the others did love Pam as much as he did; he got the distinct feeling he was the only one feeling very logical right then.

"An eye for an eye, a life for a life. That is what I want."

So it all came back to Talbot more than anything.

This was not about the burying. It was about the fact Eric had killed his heart.

"And we wonder why humans fear us, if this is the way we treat our own kind," sighed Godric. "When we will evolve?"

"We have no need too."

"I do beg to differ."

Eric at first felt a rare flicker of annoyance with Godric when he tried to begin a bargain. There was no price on the life of his precious girl.

But Godric detected his anger and at once he sent a soothing emotion to his son. He was not going to allow Russell Edgington to get away with what he had done to Pam: that was the last thing he would allow.

Eric then looked beyond Godric and saw that somehow he had brought the rest of the sheriffs of Louisiana.

Godric had no intentions of leaving without Pam.

"I am sure you do but please save your hippy crap for someone who cares."

Eric's anger mounted. No one spoke to his maker that way.

So far that evening Russell Edgington had tried his very best to destroy Pam and how he was insulting Godric. How much more was he meant to take? And then it happened.

Eric had seen Quentin Roosevelt behind Russell and he saw him try to sneak up on him. The president's son was only over a century old if his human and vampire years were added together.

For a singular moment, Eric had thought he was a fucking fool. There was no way to sneak up on a 3000 year old vampire.

Yet in the instance Russell Edgington turned to obliterate him, Godric acted.

As soon as he had grabbed a sharp piece of wood of the floor, it was a stake and it was soon in Edgington's back.

So simple, yet so effective.

Eric knew the kill was not going to sit easy with Godric who even in his youth had seen the value of a fair fight. And the value of honour.

With Edgington's in pieces on the ground though, they were able to free Pam. And that was the most important thing in the world.,

Eric was the first to vamp to the side of his progeny.

He knew as he cradled her she was still alive. He had felt Gingers death. If his own heart had left him he would be in agony.

"We have to get her to a clinic now." Said Bill as he knelt by the side of his wife and stroked her hair out her face.

Eric snarled protectively at his king.

"It is not the time or the place for the two of you to argue this out. Nor will it be until she is some where she can be helped. Dotter..." Godric sighed as he bent down and lifted Pam.

He was the only being in the world who could have done so at that moment.

"Don't take her from me," Eric pleaded.

Godric understood Eric need to hold her to his heart. He had been a maker for too long to not know what he was feeling. When his own progeny had once or twice been in danger, he felt his own arms provided the greatest safety for him. The maker could be a hospital for their beloved oen.

But practically, it did work like that.

"That is not my intention son. I only wish to get her to a blood clinic – we have ten minutes until the sun in high in the sky and we will have no shadow through which to get her to safety. We must move. Now."

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Author Note – so sorry this was put up later than it was meant to be!


	18. The Clinic

Author Note: Hey all – sorry for the delay on this chapter being posted. It has had little to do with me having no time to do so, and everything to do with me being a bit nervous over posting it (yes, even after eight years on FF, I still get wary occasionally. I know – stupid but true.) To make up for it, two chapters are being posted together as we head to the end of the story - but I've still got a few more twists in store for you.

An apology for lovely too before I get on with the chapter, who has reviewed so faithfully from the start. I hope what comes next doesn't disappoint you too much : (

**Chapter 18**

The clinic which Pam was taken to was safe and secure, right on the boarder of Louisiana. Bill had once visited it when he had first become king. It was not as close to the palace or to Shreveport as those who loved Pam would have liked it too be – but then there was never going to be a place close enough for their liking.

The fact they even had to go in to a clinic for drained vampires was repugnant to their entire nature.

But their feelings did not matter.

All that mattered was that Pam had survived the journey and her meeting with Edgington.

Godric had been the one to carry Pam all the way across state. It had been one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. And he felt as if he had been slower than he had ever been in his life. And all the time, Pam could die at any second.

But Eric's girl had a thirst for life.

She had told his son that she walk the world for eternity with him.

And that was what she intended to do.

From his phone, Bill had called ahead to ensure there was a bed waiting for his wife. No one was going to say no to a king who wanted to save his wife.

Medics were as a result on hand to aid Pamela as soon as she arrived.

She was laid out on a stretcher.

"Is her maker with you, your majesty?" one of the medics addressed Bill.

"I am her maker," Eric stepped forward. God how small did she look? How ill and alone?

_What did he do to you? How much did you go through?_

"Only you can save her now. Once more you must be willing to give her your blood if she has any hope of survival."

Eric nodded without a second thought. "Take all you need."

He did not turn around to Bill or to Godric as the medics attending Pam and he run into a side room where she could at last be treated.

Please whatever god did exist, she could be saved.

XXX

It had been a long, long time since William Compton felt as numb as he did at that moment. He had not expected to come to feel what he had for Pam. When he proposed he had had no idea they were going to make such a good team, which in the end, they had. She had fire and spunk and she had successfully chased the thoughts away from his head which he had not wanted there.

She had - she had changed the life he had been living and his perspective of her.

Whatever one of her infinite varieties she was being on any given day though – he had learnt to love them all.

That had been the easiest lesson of all.

"Can I ask you a question?" Godric mused.

"Of course."

The elder of the vampires sat across the room from the younger as they both took the space they needed to try and get there mind around what had gone on that night. They tried to contemplate what was to come next, too.

"Why did you want her for your queen?"

Bill shrugged. "I can't answer that without hating myself. And there has been enough hate tonight."

XXX

Eric did not even feel the effect of the pint of blood being taken from him. He knew when humans went to a blood bank to donate; they could feel dizzy or faint for a while after. But for a vamp of his age and feeling the intensity of emotion he was, it was nothing at all.

By the time that Pam had been placed on various machines, including her drip, and moved to the best room in the clinic, she had given the best chance she had at getting through all this and Eric still wasn't crying.

He had always been quite stoic until he had lost his memory – the only time emotion rose to the surface was when his family was in danger.

But this time, the situation was so bad that he found he could not bring himself to do that.

He could only stand at the end of the bed and try to merge the patient with his feisty, disobedient child.

"Dotter."

She looked so lifeless. After all the times he had seen her go to ground to be dead for the day, he would have thought he would be used to it. But this was something else.

The ache in his gut was another new sensation.

All in all though, Eric was just struck by the feeling that this could not be happening to them.

It happened to other vampires; not to them.

He was sure the real Eric was at Fangtasia – and the real Pam was by his side. That the two of them had never fought and were still as they had always been.

Father and daughter

Brother and sister.

Best friends.

And on important or passionate nights – occasionally, still more than that.

She was his wife, his mate –

She was him and he was her and they were both Godric.

Human bonds did not even begin to transcend what the two of them had shared and labels were pointless.

What mattered, was that this nightmare ended.

Not in one thousand years had one hour gone so slow – and by the end of it, Eric was forced to concede that this was happening to Pam. That this was happening to him.

The medics had told him improvement would take weeks. A good few months could be expected to pass before she awoke.

Sleeping beauty that she was.

Slowly, he walked about the bed and stood over her, cupping her cheeks gently as he bent down. Finally a bloody tear leaked his eye onto her as he grazed her forehead with his lips.

"As your maker, I command you Pamela. Don't die."

_You can be with whomever you want. You can hate me and fall head over heals for Bill. You can leave, travel alone, never seen me again, whatever you wish, I don't care anymore. But you can't die._

He stroked her cheek with his thumb and then he kissed her again. Kissing her tenderly was the only thing in the world he could do. He wanted to stay with her until the end of this – till she woke. To never leave her side...

Three hours in to his vigil the door opened.

He eyes flashed angrily to the door to see who dared interrupt the time he had with his child, but his anger melted like snow in the sun as he saw it was Godric.

The words he wanted to say so badly would not leave his mouth.

But Godric knew what Eric needed.

Going over to the side of the chair his Viking sat in, Godric put his hand on the back of Eric's neck. The two of them had never been very physically intimate.

Certainly the two of them had never gone to the lengths he and Pam had...

But Eric needed his maker at that moment, and when he moved to take him in his arms as any loving father would for any distraught son, Eric tried to burying himself.

In spite of his age, the next words Godric heard could have come from the smallest of child. "Make it stop, father. Make it stop."

And then, Eric wept.

XXX

By the time that Bill could have even considered leaving the clinic to get back to Jess; the sun had been so high in the sky that he physically could not return to his child. There for it had gone nine PM when he did get back to the palace and he had the bleeds. He had only gone to ground for a while. But his mind had been too alive for him to go to sleep.

He had not been able to shut down for fear of what was going to happen to –

He had seen his wife for just twenty minutes since she had been rescued. Eric had not left her and the two of them were in no mood to be thrown together any more than they already had.

The two of them were going to have to talk – but not yet.

Going in to his office he saw the chair was occupied by what had to be an exhausted Sookie. due to everything else that had gone on since the previous night, he had forgotten they had called her to the palace to help in the search for Pam.

"I stayed for Jess," she explained, as he came into the office, stretching as she did so. "I got her to go to ground but she – she was pretty distraught."

Bill nodded. "Is she up?"

"Showering." Sookie nodded.

Silence. "How are you?"

Bill looked at the women who had reawaken so much in him and shrugged. "Numb – and utterly wretched. I've made so many mistakes."

"Last night was of Edgingtion's making."

"Perhaps – but I was the one who set the ball rolling. Or that's how it feels."

He did not remember the last time he had been so honest with her.

The truth was he had been a dick to her since she had got back from Eric. Why did it take something like this for him to see the truth? That they were all just a bunch of adults trying to play god in one another's life's when they had no right too.

"I am so sorry. Sookie, for everything, not just the last few months, but Sophie Anne, Lorena, for it all – I'm sorry. It wasn't meant to be this way."

She nodded as she got up. He was sure she was about to come round the desk when someone else joined them.

"Oh my god, your back."

After seeing Eric's desperation over the past few hours, Bill felt more gratitude than he could put into words as Jess walked into his arms.

He knew he had been away but a day – yet he had missed her. He had given her so little thought the night before. And that had been wrong.

Putting one arm round her and the other on the back of her neck he pulled her into him stroking her hair as he did so.

"Oh Jess," He sighed miserably.

In spite of everything he had put her through, Sookie was touched to be including in such a moment between them. She could remember when Jess had first been made. God the two of them had driven one another crazy by their own admissions. But now – well they were a different maker and progeny.

They were so close. A team – she was please to see it, for Jess's sake.

"What's going on, how's Pam?"

"She's sick sweetheart."

"But she is going to be home in a couple of days right? Bill?" Jess pulled back from her maker and looked at him desperately, so much so that Sookie averted her eyes. Just a moment before she had been so glad to see them thus. And now she felt as if she was nothing more than an intruder. But she couldn't leave.

She wanted to know how Pam was as well.

"Not quite. It is going to take considerable longer."

Jess nodded as she tried to digest the news, looking down at the floor, trying to hold herself together for Bill.

"I can go see her, can't I?"

"Of course, you can. I'll take you tonight, just let me sort a few things here first."

Bill looked at her with sympathy. She had not asked for any of this. And yet she was hurting too.

"I want Hoyt," She said in a tiny voice.

She wanted somewhere safe to run. And that was where she went.

As Jess vamped out, Bill turned back to Sookie. As if Jess had never interrupted them, Sookie closed the gap between them and she gave him a soft, sympathetic smile.

"God I'm a bastard," He shook his head as he fought his thick throat.

"What aren't you telling me? I know you."

As Bill sat in one of the leather chairs, Sookie took the other.

"It wasn't meant to end like this. I wasn't meant to care for her, I just-"

XXX

Bill felt lighter after he had confessed to Sookie.

She had judged him as he had thought that she was going to, of course, she had thought he was a fool and arse which he had been. After Moon Goddess, after Marnie they had all been so het up and Bill had said he was ok with everything. But he wasn't. He hadn't been.

At twelve o'clock on the dot, he and Jess left the palace together and by fifteen minutes past they were walking down the corridor which was going to lead them to Pam's room. It was easy to find where it was as Godric was standing guard outside of it.

As soon as he saw the two of them, Godric put his head to through the door. In a flash, Eric was at the side of his maker.

"We need to talk," Eric told Bill as he walked back the way they had come.

Bill turned to his child, cupping her cheek as she gave a brave nod. She had come for Pam and not for Bill.

But it would have been nice to go in with him though.

When she had been human she had had to go to see her Gran when she was ill in hospital and she just hated it. She had been so freaked out by it. And now to see Pam looking so frail and human.

Well, it would have been good to have her maker with her when she had had to face that...

But she was a big girl. And if she had to do this on her own then she had too.

Jess walked through the door and looked at the bed and felt her heart break.

A tiny part of her had hoped Bill had got it wrong or was lying to her. That Pam was going to jump up and take the piss out of her for crying so much.

"Is she getting better yet?" she asked Godric in a very small voice.

"Her body is taking in Eric's blood well and there is every chance that she is going to make a good recovery," he nodded as he gave her a comforting smile.

"Well, at least that's something."

XXX

As soon as Eric had asked to talk to him Bill knew he, well, knew.

It seemed this was the day for his secret to come out to everyone.

"I just want to know one thing. Was it the registrar or the wedding certificate which was fake?" asked Eric bluntly. He had to know.

A silence fell between them and Eric could see it in Bill he had thought he had got away with it. He wanted to give a very different answer to the one he had too. He had so got used to the idea they, his wife and himself, would spend the next ten years together.

That they would in effect finish raising Jess as a team and rule supreme over Louisiana together.

He hadn't meant to love Pamela.

The king gave a broken sigh as he turned to the Viking. 'Both."

"And she has no idea?"

"Not a clue..."

Shaking his head, Eric left the room.

XXX

Jess took the seat where Eric had been keeping his vigil over his progeny. She had no qualms over taking Pam's hand. "I miss you so much. Why on earth would you run off like that?" Jess had been going through it all in her mind. She knew she loved Ginger but to put herself in danger...

"God, my life is so screwed. I just had comfort sex with Hoyt, and the palace is a mess and Bill is holding back on me. It is more than what is going on with you here. You need to come kick his arse so he snaps out of It," wiping her cheek, Jess sighed. "I just want you here."

"Stop blubbing."

She sat up a lot straighter. Eric had always kind of fascinated her. But now he just made her feel more than a little awkward and uncomfortable. He was, in fact, the last person in the world she wanted to be in that room with. But she was not going to allow him to run her off. She was staying where she was.

"You know what? Screw you. I am not going to allow anyone to make me feel bad for feeling at the moment."

Eric gave a shake of his head as he tried to decide if she was stupid or brave. Yet he had a new respect for _her _even if her maker was a dick and a half. He did not scold her again.

"I didn't know a vampire could be so pale."

Eric shook his head. "Neither did I."

"You must have seen this before in the past thousand years."

"Not like this."

She saw he could give her no comfort. He sounded so very defeated.

"Has she ever been ill before?"

He did not know why he nodded. It was none of her business if Pam had been ill before.

"Only once. But that was nothing like this. It felt like a big deal at the time though," Eric mused as he became lost in memories.

_Please review!_


	19. London, 1912

**Chapter 19**

London, March, 1912

As the sun feel out of the evening sky, the Viking stirred from his sleep. Eric had been a vampire far longer than he had ever been human but he had been a maker for not just over six years so far. And so he still enjoyed the process of waking up skin on skin with his progeny. It was one of his favourite sensation.

He could not yet bring himself to think of her as his child, he thought as he stroked hair out of her face. They were a long way from that in fact.

She was curled up next to him like a little doll. The two of them had slept side by side and he smiled at their closeness.

Six years of unrelenting passion had led him to believe she was the finest progeny in the world.

Rolling over, he proceeded to kiss her as he had done the night before pretending that they had not even gone to sleep. The previous nights escapades had begun with an argument (as all their best nights did) – one he barely remember but he had a vague recollection that it had begun with a derogatory comment of his about a whore – a flippant comment which had got under her skin.

Pam was not champion of_ human_ rights. But she was a champion of her old life style and she would not let him forget it. His turning of her hadn't changed her that much. Not yet any way. There were times when she was still very much of her human mind set and quite a school girl as he liked to think of it.

Not that she had ever been a good girl.

He got out of bed once he was sure he had woken her and walked over to the window.

Of all the places he had ever lived, he had a feeling he was going to think of Eaton square, London as one of the most agreeable.

The two – well, three - of them had moved in there not all that long ago and he could only hope she was enjoying it as much as he was. Part of him, deep within him, missed his homeland and the time when he had had a family about him. But then, he saw the bright lights of a big cosmopolitan city waiting for him and his girl and the ache for his past was over taken by a hunger for his future.

Not moving from his spot looking out of the gardens which were beautiful in the moon and star light that illuminating them, he turned back to the bed.

"Good evening sleepy," he said to his progeny who looked just about ready to get up and get ready for the night.

"And to you," she replied as she sat back against the head board of the four poster bed they had shared since moving in.

One of the most wonderful developments of the modern age he found were black out blinds. As long as they could sleep in a light tight, pitch black room then there was no reason why they should not sleep in a bed. And it was a luxury he had missed.

"So are you going to get up today? We have a long night ahead of us."

"Oh yes – going to smooze with the Haroldsons, how could I forget?"

"My radiant one, as much as I am glad you are enthusiastic about tonight, please do try to contain yourself," he smirked as she rolled her eyes. He turned serious. "This is going to be a good opportunity for the both of us if we can pull this off." Just because he like a place, didn't mean they wouldn't move on fast to where the business was.

"Boston, Area four." She said softly with a wondrous look in her eye.

She was dubious about the means but not the end. She had longed to see the new world. He had said they were going to go to the states for a while, but they were yet to get there.

"And a new life for the two of us," he said as he vamped to her side and intertwined his fingers with hers.

Another one, she thought. She had never been adverse to new lives and she had no doubt that she was not going to mind the next one either.

In the past six years, she had spent with him she had lived more than she had with her mother and father. They were so small time.

Small men with small ideas.

It spoke volumes of the way she had felt for them that she had not even tried to sneak back to have a glance of them. But then the happy time she had had with them had ended long before she had met Eric.

By the time she had been turned, they had thought of her as nothing more than a dirty whore. She was part of their shame. A secret...

She was sure they probably told their friends and associates she had died.

She could hear her father's solemn voice tell his business men friends of the sudden death of his precious English rose and her mother's wailing over the loss of her only child...

They meant nothing.

She was broken out of her thoughts by Eric who put his fingers under her chin and met her eyes.

It was clear he had a feeling she had been thinking on things he would not wish her dwell upon. Perhaps he had felt some of her sadness.

But it was over the past and not the present for he knew better than anyone in the world that she was never, ever going to regret what he had made her.

He had saved her in too many ways to count.

"Wear the caramel tonight, " he said as he nodded towards her bulging wardrobe. Bending forward, he kissed her forehead.

The two of them were going to have to be at their charming bests of they wanted to pull the deal off.

XXX

It took Pam and Eric all of an hour to be ready to go out for the night and she did indeed where the dress he had suggested.

He may not have commanded her to do so but she was eager to please him – and beyond anything else she did so love that dress. The numbers of opportunities she had had to wear it so far had been limited.

She would not pass an opportunity up. And so when she descended there spiral stair case in the soft dress with the corset was just perhaps tied a little too tightly for her to be respectable, she figured she was pleasing them both.

"And you expect me to take you out looking like that when all I do want to do is take you back to bed?" asked Eric as he gave her a playful smile.

"You were the one who made me get up, my dear Mr. Northman!" she said as she took his arm with a smile.

"Do not remind me of my folly," he growled in her ear gently before he turned to the office which was just off of the parlour. "Godric, Pamela and I will be back sometime between four and five." Eric told his maker.

That was part of the reason when he loved living in Eaton Square so much. He had his maker as well as his progeny close. Godric had taken some convincing to live in to a nest with them. He seemed softer than he had been in previous centuries, though no less deadly... but he did not want to plot or scheme or take part in violence any more.

"Well, whenever you do I am going to be with you," Godric said as he put on his dinner jacket.

"Your coming with us?" said Pamela delighted.

"Even after nearly two thousand years I need to socialise from time to time."

And so the three of them went out to get a carriage. That evening they were going to go to Chester Square just one road away to a evening for their type.

Before she had been made a vamp, Pamela had thought the only night life that mattered was the type that made men happy and women feel dirty.

Once more that was a perspective which had changed when she had been made vampire. Now she knew intimate social gatherings which were not characterised by their sense of propriety and respectability.

As the two of them were driven along with Godric sitting facing them in the horse drawn carriage, she felt Eric take her hand. He had not done it so much lately as he had in the really early days, but the small signs he was still as devoted to her as he had always been. As she was too him.

The night before though he had given her more than small signs.

She was sure she had never been so secure in his heart. She knew they would not always be thus though.

Within twenty minutes of the two of them leaving the house, Eric and Pam were circulating through a large ball room. Godric had said he had his own associates to see that night and he would meet them later on. Once they had got there drink (which had apparently, from willing donators), he had parted from them.

If Pam did not have her arm linked through his own then he invariably had his hand on the small of her back.

"Ahh Northman," Haroldson said as he saw Pam and Eric. "I hear you and your delectable progeny are soon to be on your way to the states!"

"That's correct – we hope to be settling in the new world during the summer," he said as he put his hand protectively rounds Pamela.

He knew she was delectable. Yet he was not sure how much he had appreciated being told so.

He had nothing to fear from Haroldson though and he knew it. He had been a buffalo of a man when he had been human and so he remained in death.

He did not think he was quite Pamela type.

He ran a hand over her porcelain skin.

"And have the two of you got you way over there yet? If not then you are welcome to cross with us. The Gregorian's were planning to travel but have had to cancel with us. We are going over on the maiden voyage of the Titanic."

The progeny and her maker had two very different reactions to this. As much as he had been vaguely interested in the idea of a ship that could not sink, life had been far too unpredictable and savage for Eric to truly believe the hype surrounding the ship. There was nothing in the world which was certain. In the end he had turned off to the media. A thousand ships had been launched before and a thousand ships would be launched after.

The titanic was nothing special - and if the truth was known, he was a little suspicious of it.

But they were lessons that life was yet to teach his Pam and she made no attempt to hide her excitement at the prospect from him, no doubting wanting to influence him.

"Boarding the night before is not going to be a problem – the inner cabins with be as light tight as you need them to be," Haroldson said. "I inspected mine just a few days ago. I expect to sleep better on there than I have in a few years."

"I am sure you will," Pam said from her makers side as she looked at him. No one but Eric saw the pleading in her eye.

The slight shake of his head was only caught by her and it was to cause an argument between the two of them for days.

XXX

"What is the point of being a vampire if we are not to be part of history?" Pamela asked two days later as she sat in front of her vanity.

"To hunt, to feed, to live all at once, my love." Eric said to her from his position on the bed, reading a book.

"The Titanic is something I want to remember for all the years' ahead though." she pouted as she looked at him through the mirror, taking her makeup off. "If we are going to be going over to the states, why not let me go over a little early?" she asked taking a new angle. "Let me find us a place to live." She shrugged.

The two of them had been apart now and again but never really for a prolonged amount of time - not that this would be.

But a month apart would make their hearts grow founder if anything.

"Because we still do not know if we are going to get area four."

"Then if we are there, we are going to be in prime position to get the next available area... and we do want to go over to America."

Vamping over to the bed, she took his book off of him and crawled on top, pining his arms down playfully with her hands and biting her lip. She knew if he could throw her off in a heartbeat. Instead, he just raised an eyebrow and looked up at her.

"When do I ever ask you for anything?" she purred as she brushed down and kissed her lips.

"Most evenings. How on earth did I end up with such a brat?" he asked with equal playfulness.

"Well it takes one to know one," she shrugged. "Come on Eric. It is just a ride on a boat. Let me do it."

He sighed defeated. He had so many plans for her in the states and if it was going to shut her up and earn him brownie points at the same time (not that he needed them). Why not let her go over a little early?

He nodded. "Ok. But when you get there, you get down to business. This is not a pleasure trip."

"But there shall be pleasure when you arrive," Pam told him seductively.

The fact her could take her whenever he wanted did not stop her from wanting her to play the seduce him.

Nor did it stop him wanting to be seduced. The darker sides of the maker progeny bond had not been one they part took in. He was never going to force himself on her. That was not the way the two of them did things.

Sitting up straight, he held her closer to him.

"And before you go. These clothes we both seem to be dressed in are causing me a little problem."

"Well then, we had better take them off."

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	20. Goodbyes and Lies

**Chapter 20**

**London, March 1912**

As March drew to a close, the nights in London just begun to warm slightly, not that Eric or Pam could enjoy them that particular evening. His only job that night was to help her choose dresses she was going to look ravishing in when he was not going to get a chance to enjoy the view. It was a task he almost resented – bitterly so.

"You know you can still stay here and wait for me to come with you. Then we can enjoy a proper English summer, rainy nights and dancing till three," Eric sighed looking teasingly at his progeny. She knew he was half serious though, even if he had already paid her fare to board the ship.

"No," she was as blunt as ever.

"Thank you for making me feel so loved."

Pam and Eric shared their laughter as she packed a trunk.

"Would you prefer me pout over how much I am going to miss you?"

"Perhaps," he nodded.

A playful silence hung in the room as he sat in the arm chair of their bed room. She walked over to him, each step careful, and a seductive glint in her eye.

"Well, then – just to feed your ego... Of course, I'll miss you."

But the way she said it made him think the last thing she was doing it to feed his ego. No – he had never had relationship with a woman as real as the one he and his progeny was sharing. She _would_ miss him. Very much.

"But I want to show you I can do this. I want you proud of me," she admitted.

"I am proud of you."

Reaching out his hand he beckoned her over to him and when she was at his side he pulled her into his lap. Biting her lip, she smiled.

"I love those five words above all others."

He nodded. "I know you do." Running a hand through her loss curls, Eric looked deeply in to her eyes. "My love."

"I quite like those words as well."

He had a chuckle as he stroke his hand down her back and kissed her.

"So it is tomorrow I have to get you to Southampton?"

"It is," she said with a nod.

"And once you set sail it is going to be two to three months until we are reunited?"

"Too long, I know," she said as she turned to face him, running her hands up and down his chest. She left her arms loosely linked around his neck as she looked back into his eyes, leaning into his protective embrace.

"Well then – we had better make the most of your final night."

"Hadn't we just?"

They were on the bed in a matter of seconds.

XXX

**Louisiana, Present Day**

"They just took another half litre of blood." Said Eric as he returned to the room where his child lay in bed recovering.

It was one of the inside rooms of the clinic, meaning that even though she would be safe enough with a black out blind, the sun was just not an issue there.

"You can't put your own health at risk," Godric told him.

"If I have too, then that is exactly what I will do."

"I may not be able to command you, but if I said I forbid you to maker yourself ill, would it have an effect."

Eric shook his head. "Not until her life is secure."

Godric could appreciate that. If he were in Eric's shoes. If it was him or Nora in that bed...

"Do you need me to get you anything?" asked Godric.

"No."

XXX

**Southampton, April 1912**

As he cupped Pam's face, Eric was still wondering if he should just throw her back in the carriage and take her back to London.

The plan had been for the two of them to cross the pond together. He wanted to do it with her.

But that was not what she wanted.

For so long she had been caged. Her human mother and her father had kept her so trapped. And she had such a zest for life.

He did not want to trao her. He did not want her bitter towards him...

And so if she felt she was ready to go and set up their business for them in Boston then that was good enough for him. It was by no means sure that he was going to be the sheriff of the area. But it was sure they needed a base in the states if they were going to get a place out there.  
>And it was for sure that was where she wanted to be.<p>

"And you are sure you do not want to wait for me?"

"You're sure you don't want to come with me?" she countered.

As the two of the shook there head, Eric mourned the fact the two of them were so similar and so stubborn.

Pulling her close to him, Eric kissed Pamela deeply. He had not known what it was to be close to someone until he had met her, discounting Godric.

"Don't miss me too much," He said as he released her.

"Don't long for me in the night more than necessary."

"I love you snarky."

"Someone has too. I love you too."

Pulling away, she gave him one more brief kiss.

"The time will go quick."

But she had the feeling that she was about to learn the meaning of eternity.

XXX

**Louisiana, Present Day**

For the second time that week, Jessica Hamby knew she was some where she should not really be. Yet when she had heard the news she had felt as if she had had to get out the palace.

When she had been a newly turned vamp, she had often told people that she hated Bill and that he was, in fact, the worse make in the world. In recent months, she had come to think she had got that wrong. Not only had the two of them got to be close in the end but she had thought he was the one person in the world she could trust to give her a grain of truth.

And so to find out that he had lied over some thing as big as his marriage to Pam hurt her like hell and she did not think she could put it in to words.

It was not only that she had lied to her, as well as to someone who was a friend to her. It was that she had so sure she had got something that resembled a family around her once more. Ok, so she had full well known Pam was never going to bake cookies with her and she knew she was never going to be the sort of mum who said something just to make her feel good.

In fact, she was pretty sure if she said she saw her as a mum she was just going to go crazy on her as well.

But she had grown so fond of the life the three of them had been living.

If she had been a human teenager she no doubt would have gone on about how her life had been a lie for the last few months and show she was never ever going to be able to forgive Bill...

Well, the truth was it was going to take her a damn long time before she was able to consider such an action. But she had grown up quite a lot in the last few months and she was beginning to understand that forever for her and Bill was going to be a very long time.

He was her maker and he had been a friend to her when she had needed him to be.

She was more pissed off than she had ever been at him before.

But the fact was her life over the past few months had not been a lie. _For her and Pam, _it had not been a lie.

And not that it made any thing any easier at that moment, she had been able to see the remorse Bill felt for what he had done all over his face.

The bloody tears he had cried when he had been saying sorry to her had been very genuine she was sure. Still, he was going to need a hell of a lot more than sorry when Pam found out what he had done. She was just going to rip his head off.

And Jess didn't blame her...

Nevertheless he had driven her back to the one place she knew she should not have gone back to.

To Hoyt. To comfort and security.

But maybe that was what she had needed after everything. Not to love, but to be sure she was loved. It was selfish. She knew she should not lead him on. Perhaps later she would glamour him to forget that they had even spent more than one night together that week.

But as he held on to her then she could not draw away. She just couldn't. All she could do was lay her head on his chest and enjoy the soothing sensation of him running his fingers through her long red hair.

If she could forget for just a moment, she was sure she would feel better.

XXX

Pam had known as soon as she had seen the ship that she was going to have a wonderful time on it.

She had boarded the night before they had been due to set sail and when she woke up at sea, Pam felt as if she was free. Not that she had not been free for a very long time.

"This is fantastic," she said as she held on to the arm of Mr. Haroldson. He had been a bore when they had all been in London and he was going to be a bore on the ship but. She was, however, sure she was going to be able to find someone to amuse her.

For the first time they were on the promenade. God, she knew he had been on a lot of ships in his time, but for the life of her she did not think she was ever going to be able to figure out why Eric had said he was not going come with her. She wished he was there with her and she did not mind sending him a message to let him know. A warm sensation flooded in to her as he told her how missed she was in return.

Separation was going to be part of their life... but it did hurt.

She looked up at the sky. It was part of every vampire's life to miss the sensation of the warmth of the sun on their skin. But honestly – the stars were so bright and beautiful and the night was ...

It made her understand there was more than one kind of magic in the world.

"As are you my dear," said the man at his side with smile and she felt her skin crawl. But she knew she had to play the little women to keep him sweet.

And to stay close to _his _pretty wife.

A smirked played on her lips.

Oh yes, she was going to enjoy being aboard the Titanic.

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	21. When In Rome

**Chapter 21**

If he could take it all back then he would, Bill thought as he sat in his office waiting for Jess to go to the clinic. Through the bond which the two of them shared he was more than able to feel what she was - and the fact that he had been the one to make her feel that way made him sick to his stomach.

The only defence he had had was it had seemed like a good idea at the time. And his actions had not been entirely out of malice. He did care for Pam. But with Eric and Sookie in Rome, he had wanted to hurt his elder the way he had hurt him when he had taken the women who had reawakened his humanity.

He saw things more clearly now of course – Sookie did things of her own free will. And rightly so...

She had fallen in love with Eric – and he should have stayed out of that and let her try for happiness...

Yet, when he had gone to see Pam she had seemed so pitiful and not in the hundred years since the two of them had met, had he ever thought that Eric's progeny was a creature to be pitied.

She had been so alone. She had had the bleeds and she had lost something of the fire which he knew had made her maker love her as he did.

But when she was so soft, to his surprise he found for the very first time he was able to care for her himself. It had been a long process until she had let him help her.

And even then he had let her down – he had lied to her. He had taken her as his wife only to fool her into a sham marriage.

He had done it because as soft as she had been, Billhad not been blind. He knew just who she was. She was the progeny of Eric Northman and she was practically royalty; she acted as if she was anyhow. And he had wanted a get out of jail free card initially. Had it not worked out, then he wanted an easy escape. If he could go back in time and do it for real then he would do it in a flash.

But he couldn't.

Jess came in just before twelve. The red head did not know how she felt about anything. All she did know was that she wanted to go back to the clinic.

"Is Eric going to accept you going to see Pam?" asked Jess.

"I am his king still."

Jess nodded.

"Can we talk before we go?"

It was the first time in a long time Bill had asked her so politely. Normally he just told her.

"Bill, I am pissed. I am only a couple of years old, and if I do say so myself, I am still pretty human." In that palace, it was a good thing to be human. "You knew what all the wicked step mother jokes implied."

Bill nodded. "That we were a family."

"I know what went on with you, Eric and Sookie. I knew you all were pissed at each other, though for the life of me I could not keep up with who was actually in the wrong," Jess admitted. "If you had told me I would have kept your secret. I'm your progeny, Bill. We're meant to be family."

"We _are_ family."

"You don't treat me like that. You tricked me and your hurt me. Now all I want to go and do is see Pam."

There was nothing else for her to say.

XXX

It had been forty eight hours since he had delivered the true death to Russell Edgington and Godric managed another incredible feat – he had talked Eric into going home to ground for the day. If he bleed out then he was going to be no good to his daughter.

He had had to say he was going to stay with her to convince him to leave though. If there was any change, he would let him feel it.

Looking at the vampire on the bed, Godric sighed. He felt sure she was going to be well again. Yet it was going to be a very long time until she was back to her full strength. She had a long and frustrating path to walk. He had no doubt that if she was going to lose her life, she would have done it by now.

But she had fought; and fight on she would.

They had all been fighting; Eric, Pam and himself, since before they had been turned in their own ways. There was strength in their bloodline which he hadn't fully comprehended till now.

Reaching out, he touched her marbled cheek. He had not yet made up his mind if she had shown extreme stupidity or extreme courage.

But he would love her all the same, as he ever had.

A knock on the door disturbed him. Jess and Bill waited until he had nodded to come into the room.

"How is she doing?" Jess asked as she rushed to the side of the vamp. Bill held back.

"She is much the same as she was when you were last here."

"And no worse?" Bill checked.

Godric confirmed this.

"Good."

Sitting by Pam's side, Jess settled in for the night. It was amazing she had found the night before that when you loved someone, how long you would be content just to sit with them while they fought for life.

How holding their hand was so much more than that.

XXX

Eric sat outside his house in the car for a while before he went in. Since he had been back from Rome he had been there a hand full of times.

He had not been there enough though to get used to the fact that Pam had moved out. And so he knew when he did go in he was just going to feel her absence more.

He still doubted that he should have left her - and part of him wanted to go straight back.

But he knew if he did then he was just going to get a lecture about the bleeds from Godric. He might be released but his maker was always going to do what was best for him deep down.

And he would always, always follow the advice that he was given by Godric. Advice? They remained orders in truth somehow.

Shutting his head, he steady himself, got out of the car and went in to the house.

And was soon lost in his memories.

As only a maker could, he knew as soon as Pamela had run into trouble out in the sea. Long before the days when she had learnt to hide the way that she feeling from him, he had felt every emotion which she did, strong or weak.

But it had been three nights out in the voyage that he had felt her fear more intensely than he ever had before.

X X X

**1912**

"Fuckers," Eric sighed as he jumped out from where he had been sitting in Eaton Place.

This was bad. He did not know what was going on but she could feel her fear more intensely by the moment.

And her fear scared him. Thus he was not surprised when his own maker had rushed to his side.

"Eric."

"Pam has run into trouble."

Godric did not need to hear any more. As young as she was, the two of them were still protective of her – perhaps overly so.

She was only just out of her baby stage. And Eric had invested so much in her that he was not going to let her go.

Thus, it was only half a minute or so before the two of them were flying through the air.

Eric did not need to think about what he was doing. All he had to do was follow the link he had with his child, and he would find her.

XXX

Since she had been made vampire, Pam had heard of only a few ways that she was ever going to met the true death. The most obvious was that if she got staked. She knew if she was decapitated or bleed out as well then she was going to lose the immortal life which Eric had given to her as well.

She did not think she would be able to drown or freeze to death.

But as she languished in the sea, she was not so sure any more.

She had been cold since she had been made. This, however, was something else.

The last three hours had been a blur for her. She was a supernatural being but she was young – and she too had believed she had been on an unsinkable ship.

She knew now there was no such thing.

As to where the Haroldson's were she had no idea. The three of them had been split in the crowd. And if Pam was to die that night then she was very sorry indeed that she had not got a chance to taste Haroldson's wife.

She had liked her.

But for all her thoughts on death that night, she was nowhere near ready to give up on the idea that she was going to survive this. After all, out at sea as they were, she was not going to starve of human blood. She was not sure if there were sharks in the sea they were in, but she was positive she could make it look like an animal attack if she had too.

Looking for a life boat, she caught sight of a few, yet they seemed pretty packed. And none of them were close enough for her to get to them. As much as she was stronger than the majority of her counter parts in the sea, she struggled to swim over to them.

It was not going to be long until she had to move if she was going to. The horror of the night had been bad enough as it was.

But she was immortal – and she was vampire. And she was **not **going to fucking die in the sea on her own.

Seeing a crew member by her side, it did not take her long to realize he was dead. As sorry as the human inside of her felt for him, she was going to damn well make it to New York.

As her fangs came down she sunk them into the vain in his neck, eager for nourishment to keep her going.

But she had not estimated how quickly the icy water was going to affect him.

The blood should be warm and go down easily - but it did not. She all but chocked on it.

And then she began to panic. Clutching her neck, her fear for her life intensified once more.

She had to keep afloat – she just had to trust to her life jacket – but seeing as how the ship had sunk, she did not have a lot of faith in it.

She had been about to try and feed again on someone else, for she could not think of any other way to survive this when she felt two arms around her.

"I told you this was a shit idea," a pair of lips kissed her firmly on the cheek.

Looking behind her she felt so relieved. "Eric."

He held her from behind and she could see Godric hovering just above the water. "Have the two of you flown here?"

"Well we weren't on the boat."

XXX

**Present Day**

Godric may have sent Eric home but he did not much feel ready for rest. He felt wired up still. And angry.

Edgington was dead – but it had not been at his hands so he was not sure if it was enough.

And then there was Bill. Eric was not sure what he was going to do about that one, but he was not going to allow someone to treat Pam the way he had and got away with it.

Not at a time like this.

Climbing the stairs, the Viking had initially meant to go straight to his room but his mind diverted him – and he wound up at the room which had belong to Pam.

Opening the door slowly, he went inside. How many nights had he stormed in there when she had been getting ready to go to work? How many nights had he popped his head round the door to see her asleep?

How many nights had she been safe in there and he had not appreciated it?

The only small mercy was that it was not going to be like her room in the palace on Bon Temps.

There was no hair brush on the vanity. The previous nights clothes were not on the floor until Ginger came to pick them up and wash them.

There was no hint of her presence there.

And that made it worse. Because she was so utterly gone.

It was as if she was already...

When she woke, she was coming home he thought to himself. When she learnt what Bill had done to her she was not going to want to go back to him. And it was not as if she felt nothing for him. When she thought she was dying, it had been he she had reached for.

The two of them had been bonded for so long. And that bond was not for breaking.

Knowing he had to get to ground, he left the room.

And he prayed the next night was going to be a better one.

XXX

**1912**

"What is it that you want to hear? You were right. Does that satisfy your ego?"

"Not nearly but it is a start."

To be back on Eaton Square when she had been off on such a great adventure seemed hopelessly cruel to Pamela. Laying back on the big bed she had been sharing with Eric ever since they had been moved in, she looked away from him.

Reaching for her cheek, he turned her eyes back to him. "I thought I'd lost you."

He said it with such depth of feeling that her embarrassment dulled just a little. Of course she hated that he had been right. And she hated to feel he had had to save her.

But at the end of the day he was all the family she had, he and Godric. Eric Northman was all she was ever going to need. Kissing the palm of his hand she gave him a soft smile.

"It is going to take more than a sinking ship to take me from you."

"I am very glad to hear it. How do you feel?"

"A little weak perhaps."

"Dr Moroose said you were going to take time to recover. It could be a few months until you fell like yourself again."

"Wonderful. I'm damn if you put me on bed rest though," she told him firmly.

"Well, what if I was on bed rest too?" he asked with a raised eye brow.

"That could make things more interesting," she admitted as he leant forward and kissed her passionately. As his hand run through her blonde hair, he savoured every touch, longing to be closer to her still. Yet for all her teasing he knew she was not yet strong enough for the two of them to satisfy all their desires.

Pulling back before he was unable to control himself, he took her hand. "You need to rest and to get better – but there is no need for the two of us to do it here is you don't want to," he told her, feeling that she was uncomfortable.

"Really?"

"I am willing to take you anywhere in the world that you want to go," he promised as he kissed her again. As long as she was safe, he would go anywhere with her.

Biting the top of her lip, she thought for a moment before inspiration struck. "Take me to Rome," she whispered.

If she really did have to convalesce then at least she could do it in the most romantic city in the world.

As much as she had been longing to go to the Americas, suddenly it did not seem so attractive.

She was only six and there was so many places she wanted to see. She was far more well travelled than she had ever been as a human. Yet she still had many European capitals to tick off.

And if they could do one while she was getting her strength back then that was going to be fine by her.

"Rome it is," he said soothing, kissing her forehead. "Try to get a little sleep sweetheart. It is the only way you'll get better."

"This is so fucking boring."

"Deal with it. And next time: listen to me, my child."

XXX

Three and half months past in Rome before Pam felt as if she was the girl who had got on the Titanic once more. After feeling invincible when she had been made, it had felt alien to her to be so vulnerable again and she had not cared for it at all. It had made her irritable and bad tempered. As well as hungry.

She and Eric had hunted as they had not done so in a very long time.

It had been like they had been at the very start. It had been savage and cruel at times and she had fed from five different people in one night. One of those times she had forgot to think about the maggots.

And for the first time in over four years she had lost control.

She had drained someone.

"Eric, I'm sorry."

That was not the way she had been brought up – he tried to teach her to leave them alive just because it was far too much trouble to be bothered with all the dead bodies.

"It is quite alright…"

He had been so sure that she was going to die that he did not care who else died. The odd human death meant nothing to him anymore.

And he had felt how hungry his child was. For days after she had got back she had had some trouble feeding – she had told him about when she and been in the water, how hard it had been to try and get something from the frozen bodies.

She had had to get deep nourishment – it was the only way she was gOing to get well fast.

He had run her hand through her hair, looked at the body and then leant down to kiss her bloodied mouth, making it clear to her that nothing but her own welfare mattered.

And thus the two of them had spent the months in Rome together, killing and feeding, laughing and loving.

Had she been human she was sure the two of them would have done the tourist thing and gone on visits to churches and museums. Instead the only thing in the world she had wanted to explore was him and his body. He was a Viking god. And the most wonderful thing about him was he would always be that way. She would never tire of him as long as she lived.

She awoke night after night to find him looking at her lovingly, just as he had when the two of them had settled that very first debt.

"You look well tonight," he said to her. The two of them had been in Rome for almost four months by that point and it was only just then he felt as if he could relax.

Those months had recalled to him the days after she had been newly made when he had wanted to shelter her from the whole world. He had been determined she was going to grow into a fine young vampire and he would stake the bastard who tried to stop that happening.

"I feel it," she told him as she cuddled close to him. Pulling her close so that she could put her head on his chest and he could play with the ends of her hair, Eric smile.

"Do you think it is time we got back to real life?" she asked.

As much as the two of them were having a wonderful time together, she knew he was getting restless.

The two of them had lost area four of Boston; he had told her that during her first month in Rome. It had been a disappointment, but he did not seem as if he was too heartbroken over it. As long as his personal life was secure he had not much cared.

But the better she got, the more he wanted to get back in to the life he loved, which the two of them loved living.

They had been resting to long. It was high time for a new intrigue.

"Only if you are up to it," he said as he rubbed his hand up and down her naked back.

"You know I am," she sighed as she pulled away from him at last and put a night robe on.

Going over to the balcony, Pam opened it and went out. The two of them had been staying in one of the very first founded vampire hotels in the world, which was a private establishment of course. And so it would always stay unless main streaming ever became a reality, not that Pam even knew if she wanted it too.

He did not get his own robe but he had soon followed her out. It was warm and clear as most evenings that August had been, a cloudless night. The two of them might miss the day but there was a charm to a darkened sky that no sun could match.

Wrapping his arms about her from behind, he kissed the back of her head.

"This started off as a trip of recuperation and we have had our dark moments – but I do not think I have ever known such perfection as right now," she beamed up at him.

Cupping her cheek he sighed.

Silence. And then a moment of unadulterated truth. No sarcasm. No barriers. No image.

Just the truth.

"_You make me so happy." _

His admission made her lips turn up wards as he pulled one side of her gown and kissed her naked shoulder.

"I never want to come back to Rome," He admitted to her. "As worried as I was about you at the beginning, I never want anything to colour the memories the two of us have made here. This time, this place it belongs to us. It could never be anyone else's."

He knew the two of them were going to have the rest of eternity together but even he doubted they were ever going to get a time as perfect that moment together.

Turning into him, she kissed Eric deeply with a smile on her face and his arms about her.

She had never felt more wanted or loved.

Just the two of them... on a balcony in Rome... with all the time in the world.

XXX

_Present Day Louisiana_

Eric's anger had been so over whelming that he had all but forgotten that speech he had made to his darling so long ago. What a mess they had all made of everything.

Yet as he went to ground that morning, there was only one thought in his head. And that was that he, Eric Northman, was the world's biggest prick.

Little did he know, only twenty two miles away, the King of Louisiana died the human death he met every sun with, having a very similar thought in his head.

_Please review!_

**Author Note:** I hope that this chapter goes someway to explaining why everyone behaved as they did at the start and that you enjoyed it!

Can vampires die at sea? I dunno. It was the ultimate sticky point in this chapter for me Pam wouldn't have drown but I still think being exposed to the cold icy water would have had an effect on her. The night the** Titanic **went down, as I'm sure you guys know, some of the life boats left before they were even half full. Pam didn't make one and couldn't have got into one (humour me here, guys, please) because of the affect of the freezing water was having on her. As for glamouring, I figured in a society that wasn't main streaming, it's not an option. They were in a densely populated area. If she glamoured someone to make them forget (her biting them or something), she would had had to glamour someone to forget what they had seen and so on – it would have ended up with Pam in the Authority explaining herself I think. Not good. And besides, this was the time Eric did get to save her.


	22. With Open Eyes

**Chapter 22**

As hard as it was for her to give any kind of credit to her maker in those months, Jess had to admit Bill had a pair of balls on him. In spite of the fact that they all now knew he had tricked Pam into a fake marriage, he came to the clinic with her at least for an hour every night, trying to stay out of the way of Eric Northman as he did so.

"Is he not the very image of a doting husband?" Eric said as his lips curled to his own maker one night. He was still completely against the idea of Bill visiting Pam. He knew she was going to be in a state about everything when she woke up and he was not going to have that little bastard confuse her any more than he had already.

As it was, he was going to command her to come home he had decided. The last time he had spoken to her she had been about to be released – but thank god that had not come to pass.

He was going to take her home and he was going to care for her as he had done when she had been a baby vamp – his baby.

"What we think does not matter," Godric did not know why – but he felt as if they had no right to turf the king out.

He had done something very wrong. But he was trying to atone for it. And for that, he forgave Bill. But forgiveness did not come so easily to Eric.

The last five months had passed so very slowly. It did not seem possible that that much time had passed since Edgington had done what he had. And yet – it had.

Real life had taken back over for them all. Bill had a kingdom to run. Eric had a bar to run and sporadically Texas had even got its sheriff back, though he still came to Louisiana regularly.

"So we go along with what she wants when she awakes, do we?"

"Yes."

The only thing Eric knew was that was not going to be very long until that happened now.

A week ago he had been elated.

For the first time, Eric had been able to feel his daughter in his blood. Their bond had been quiet for so long. It had been almost as if she_ had_ been dead.

And then – he had felt her.

He had, of course, rushed to the clinic having been in the office when it had happened.

But when he got there she had not seemed to have stirred.

If anything, he had felt her in that moment more strongly than he had for a very long time... the two of them were more intimately connected than... well since he did not remember.

And he had been on the alert ever since.

He was more than glad when he saw his _noble_ king leave the side of his child. Of course, the fact Pam was stirring was something Bill was not aware of. It had been five long months since the king had had any of her blood. And all the time she had been filled up with Eric's. The blood of his majesty's in her system had mostly been drained out.

Once Bill was gone, taking Jess with him, Eric returned to his vigil spot. And once more, he felt the stirrings of his child.

And this time it was stronger.

"Oh my god – Godric."

He was so glad he was there. This was a time when his maker should be by his side.

By her side.

And foir the first time, in five long months, Pam's eyes fluttered. It was only for a moment. If Eric blinked then he would have missed it. But he had not.

"Dotter?" asked Godric as he looked at her – but it was quite obvious that Pam was already dead to the world once more.

But the comatose stage was over.

XXX

"That is wonderful news," Jess said as she sat on the stairs to steady herself.

She was so glad she had been the one who had been standing nearest the phone when Godric rung.

"We thought you might want to know before you went to ground."

"Well of course, do you want us to come back over?"

"There is very little point tonight. In spite of the fact that she had been in a coma for the past five months, she is still very tired and she is going to be for quite a while," Godric explained. "She is still not at the end of the road to recovery. She has some way to go."

Jess nodded. Somewhere in her she supposed she had known that. But when she thought back to how desperate they had been when this had all kicked off...

Well, it was beyond their wildest dreams...

"Call us again if there is any change – please."

"Of course."

As Jess hung up, she wished she and Bill had not left the clinic. But they had.

And they both had stuff to do. He had to be king – and she had arranged to met Quentin that night.

In the time since Pam had been in her coma, she had decided to do what was right – to make Hoyt forget about the two times they had done it since Pam had been dead to the world. Right for herself or for Hoyt, Jess still wasn't sure.

But if there was one thing she did know it was that she could be herself with the son of the president.

But before she went to see the young sheriff, she had to tell the king what had happened.

She was not sure if her maker deserved to know or not – but at the end of the day she was not sure if that was her choice to make.

"Pam's woke up – just for a while," Jess told Bill as she entered the office.

"Oh my god," Bill said as he got up from where he was sitting with a huge smile over his features. This was the news they had all been waiting for, forever or so it felt. "When?"

"Not so very long after we left from what Godric said. And it wasn't for long but her eyes opened and everything."

"I need to go back," he said as he all but made for the door. He had been about go out of it when he noted Jess was not rushing after him.

She shrugged. "I just think after everything you have done the least you can do is let this be Eric's moment with her. It was him she wanted when she nearly died and he is not going to be taking any prisoners where it comes to her for a while. Let them be."

"But she is my wife."

"Only she isn't Bill. Not legally."

His face fell and she did feel sorry for him. For all he had done he was still her maker. And if she had a choice to change it, she wouldn't – not on most days any way.

"I do love her."

"I know. But let them be, Bill. You're king. Do king stuff," she said as she came over to the door and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Going to go see Quentin, ok?"

He nodded. "You like him?"

She shrugged. "He gets me."

XXX

Eric had been saddened when his maker had got an urgent call from Texas saying he had to go and deal with something there, but he could not say he was heartbroken about him and Pam finally getting a minute to themselves.

Somehow, and he knew she would probably call him selfish for this, but he felt this was about them. Not about Bill, or Godric, or Jess.

But them.

And after all that had gone on, it was as it should be her decided.

Running a hand through her hair, he looked on at her sleeping with love in his eyes and a smile on his face. He felt he was able to relax a little. He knew she was going to need a lot of love over the next few months. And perhaps a little space.

But they were going to get her. He could kiss her for the fact she was going to live alone.

And he could kill her with his bare hands for her stupidity. But that really was a secondary emotion.

Not that she was ever going to know that.

He was as excited as he had ever been when he felt her stir again. Not that his attention had ever left her, he rose and stood over the bed, cupping her cheek as her eyes opened once more.

For a moment she did not look as if she understood anything that was going on – but he could see it in her eyes as she remembered. The smallest smile came on to her face as their eyes met and it tore at his heart...as well as brought tears to his eyes. He had imagined this moment, when he got to look into those eyes of hers again for so long that now he could, it did not seem as if it was real.

"Eric."

"Hush, sweetheart. Don't strain yourself," he soothed, aware of how quickly she was going to tire and eager for to preserve the strength she was fathering. "I'm here – and I love you. But if you ever do anything like that, I will stake you myself."

Laughing softly, Pam feel back to sleep in an instant. The two of them radiated love between them. And somehow things that had seemed so important, not so long ago, were not.

XXX

"You know there are days whenI could just kill him for all he has done – and others, I just want to be as close to him again as we were beginning to be," Jess admitted later that night.

"I think that is the nature of family – no matter how much you love them, living in such close proximity to a group of people is always going to annoy you a little," Quentin sighed.

"Did you stay with your maker for long?"

"Not very. He made me in July 1918 – he died in Chicago during the 1920s. We were bonded but I don't think I ever really knew him."

"How come?"

"Bad timing I guess. He had his own stuff going on and it took me quite a while to come to terms with who I was after I had been changed. I had a fiancée when I died – and I was really very close to my human mother and father. I missed my sisters and brothers."

"So even after you were made they were all the family you wanted."

Quentin agreed with this summery with a silent nod.

"You ever go back and see them?"

"I tried when I was a few months old to go back - but I could see they were grieving and Markus, my maker, explained how much more they would hurt if I walked back in. I'd died a hero after all. They knew there was no way I was alive... there was this picture of me shot down."

"But you were alive?"

"Yes. My maker found me that night and turned me."

"It must have been awful."

"It was. I only ever saw three of them again. I went back in January 1919 to say goodbye to my pop and I held my mother's hand as she past in 1948. Both thought they were hallucinating so close to the end. Then I was partying in the 1970s when I met back up with my sister, Mrs L, as she was called – she knew everything before the end of the night. She accepted it and loved me still."

"It must have been wonderful to have that connection to the past."

"It was. I heard someone say you had a baby sister."

"Eden – I haven't seen her in two years," Jess sighed. "I was always so horrible to her and..."

"It is not too late to go find her. If I could convince my sister weren't main streaming... well it should be easier for you."

Jess itched her nose. "Maybe – but this – this is about Bill, not Eden. He is such a jack ass."

"But he is the jack ass you have. Jess, you only get one maker. You know that – and we both know your half way to forgiving him."

The look he gave her was so intense that she had to look away.

"Perhaps. But he doesn't," she grinned.

XXX

**One week later.**

"Hey Cheeto," Pam said softly as Jess came in to her room. "How is it going?"

All week, Jess had been going to the clinic in the hope that she was going to be able to see Pam awake – but each time the vamp had just snoozed through her visits as if she had not even been there.

Just the night before she had been teasing Bill, saying how she had clearly was just putting it on all along.

But as she walked into her room that day she was very much awake. Jess did not ever think she had thought how beautiful her eyes were before – but she did that day. Most likely because she had spent the best part of six months looking at her eye lids.

"Just so you know, I totally missed you."

Every day before she had gone in, she had said she was going to be cool when she welcomed back Pam to the land of the living (or unliving) and show her how she had held it together in her absence.

The bloody tears in her eyes did nothing to help that.

"Not you too," said Pam as she rolled her eyes but there was a sincerity about her that Jess had not expected.

Of course she had had to try to act the bad ass even now.

But as the two women looked at one another, smiles crept on to both of their faces.

"Where's your papa?" teased Pam and for just a moment Jess let her face fall.

"He is going to be in tomorrow."

"Nice and devoted to me. That's what I like to hear."

_Please review!_


	23. Wake Up Call

**Chapter 23**

When he had found out that Pam had woken up, Bill had felt drawn to her side as a moth was to the flame. He had had to be there to hold her and to comfort her as he had not been not so very long ago. When Sookie and Eric had been away, it had been the easiest thing in the world for the two of them to be together.

Yet now _he_ was back, Bill did not think it was going to be so easy.

After Eric and Godric and Jess had found out what he had done with the marriage certificate and the ceremony, he had managed to keep going to the clinic so he was able to keep the smallest piece of dignity.

But Pam had been awake for near a week and he had not been able to go near that place. As soon as she looked at him, she was going to know.

And he had a feeling of shame. Such shame as he had never felt before. He did not want her to look at him as if he was a stranger.

He knew it was not as if they had been together very long, but they had had some good times together and he wanted to see her as he had seen her then...

For a while he had felt so very human. He had had a wife and a child.

Now all he had was his shame.

XXX

Sitting up in the chair was a nice change for Pam, not that she was ever going to admit that to the Viking stood behind her brushing her hair. It sounded so dull. For months even if she was unable to remember it all she had done was lie down. It bored her even just to think about it.

The one blessing through all of this was that even though she knew it was not going to easy or quick to return to who she had been, she was not human. She was going to be back on her feet in no times at all. Of course, she knew she was going to have to be very careful over heep D and she was going to fry she got caught in a single ray of sun shine.

But as long as she took the necessary precaution then there was no reason she was not going to get through this.

"You look tired, my dotter."

She shrugged. "Only a little."

She shut her eyes as he continued to brush her hair in soothing strokes. It was so rhythmic that she was not so sure she was not going to go to sleep soon.

But she knew she did not want to go to sleep. When she thought back on the way she and Eric had been with one another -

It was beginning to be harder for her to remember who had done what wrong. Or if it mattered.

She had lied to herself. She had said she had not missed him when she had. She had thought she and Bill were enough and that the two of them were all she needed.

Pam did not know if she was ready to say out loud she had been wrong to think there was not some integral part of her that needed Eric.

And she did not even want to admit it to herself.

But she had a feeling he needed her to. And if that was a truth – it did not seem so bad.

"Do you want to lay down?"

"That is the last thing in the world I want to do," she said to him with that glint in her eyes that he knew.

"I know you are bored and I know want to run before you can walk."

"Please do not patronize me."

"That is not what I am trying to do," he said to her and as he walked round the chair to kneel down in front of her.

As the two of them took one another hands it felt as if a hundred years of history – a hundred years of _their_ history, was reverberating through out the room.

"Let me protect you. Let me look after you, my darling."

Reaching up he brushed a strand of her hair out of her face making her smile.

But that was when she felt there was another person in the room.

And Eric clearly felt that quickly too.

As soon as she turned round, she knew there was potential for trouble and it was something even more than the ordinary bull shit that went on between her husband and her maker.

Whatever it was that was upsetting Eric she did not like it. She could not say she was Bill's biggest fan either due to the fact he had taken so long to come and see her when he was meant to be her loving husband. What was going on with him, she didn't know. But she didn't like it.

Eric put his hand on her shoulder as if to warn Bill off and for once she did not feel as if she wanted to have a go at him for doing so because as she tapped in to the way that Eric was feeling, she knew this was him trying to protect her more than anything else. It was not him being an asshole.

"So you have remembered where I am have you, pumpkin?" asked Pam as she put her hand on top of her makers and tried to soothe him.

"I am sorry it has been so long sweetheart. I have just had a lot on at home, and the kingdom is a mess, missing you as it is."

It was at that sentence that Pam felt the full force of Eric's angry.

"Ok, you need to give me a minute with Bill..." she said as she looked over her shoulder.

"If you think I am going to leave you here, with him –"

"Eric please." Pam said as she looked up at him with pleading eyes.

Looking down on her, she hoped that he was not going to be indignant, and as their eyes met, she knew his resolved weakened. After all they had been through of late, she had a feeling there was very little on earth he was actually able to deny her now.

Bending down, Eric brushed his lips over her forehead before he stood back up at his magnificent height, towering as he did over both his king and his progeny.

He looked at the king and wondered what he was to say to him. He wanted to say that he was not to disturb her or distress her in any way. But at the same time he couldn't allow the bastard to feed her any more lies than he had already.

And so he walked out without saying anything. Pam knew what she was about and he had brought her up well. She was not going to fall into his arms when she knew how genuine his own feelings well.

Grazing her cheek with his finger as he left the room, he left Pam with Bill.

And as soon as the door shut there was a dangerous silence in the room.

Bill had somehow known that they were not going to have a warm reunion but this was worse than he had somehow imagined it was going to be.

"Are you not going to kiss me Bill?" she asked from where she sat.

But it was as if his feet was stuck the ground.

He felt all the lies and the deceit weighing down on him.

"No – no, I do not think so." He said as he sat down on the bed by her side.

"Ok – you – Bill, what it is?" she said to him as she looked in to his face. As much as she knew she had given him a hard cold stare accompanying her questions she had not thought he was going to crumble before her so soon.

"I have wanted to come and see you long before now."

"And yet you did not."

"I came in all the time while you were asleep. Held your hand through many a night."

"I am sure that was comfortable," she said as her eyes flashed to the door her maker had just left out of.

"You can imagine."

"You're not answering my question," she released. She was not going to let him dodge it any more.

"Pam – Pam, before I go on can I just say the two of us were not meant to get to feel the way that we have about each other?"

For a moment she was taken aback. The way they had been together had implied it all the time. They had supported one another and had one another's backs. But they had never said it out loud –

"And how do we feel about one another?"

"Do not make me say it – don't make this harder than it has to be."

"Holy shit, William. We have not been conscious in the same room for six months and it feels as if you about to tell me we are going to be divorced or some shit like that. Please..."

"I wish we could divorce."

She looked as if he had winded her. "Well fuck you too."

"You don't understand Pam."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." She said as she begun to shake and felt her throat go thick.

"We cannot divorce. Because the two of us were not married. Not legally."

He had been looking down at the floor when he had said the words due to the fact, he knew he was going to be unable to say what he had to and look at her at the same time. Not when she was so – awake. So there.

This was all he had wanted for months. And he had ruined it.

But as he looked up all, he saw was that she remained very confused. And how on earth could blame her? He had been the one who had said she was going to be her white knight and now he was telling her it had all been a lie.

"I faked the marriage certificate. And the wedding," Bill gave Pam the answers to the questions that were going around in her head.

He had thought she was going to cry when he had first said the words - and then he saw her get a grip of herself. He had not thought she was going to have the strength or the energy to do so when she had been through so much already but she did.

"Why?" she asked shaking her head. She was not going to cry on him but her tone of voice and expression brought home to him how hurt she was. It was not that the two of them had been this huge love story. They hadn't. But the two of them had become to be friends - she had thought real friends. And she deserved more than this from him, after all the times she has sat by his side and comforted him in the office.

She deserved more for realising and supporting him as a second in command. She had sat back and tried to be a devoted queen. She had not always succeeded, but damn it all to hell, she had tried.

"Because I am a fucking fool."

"No arguments from here," Pam said as she put her head in her hands.

She remembered all the nights the two of them had spent in bed side by side – that had not just been fucking. It had been something more and she hated that he had belittled that.

"Get out," she said to him, turning away and refusing to listen to him further.

"If I could turn back the clock and do things differently – "

"You can't."

It was as simple as that in her mind.

_Better the dork you know..._

And yet she had thought she had known him – but she had not at all, had she? Not really. Not after all.

She did not dare to look up until she heard the door shut and then it was that her eyes went red rimmed. She was hurt.

But no one was going to see that she thought as she blinked.

No one.

Sitting back, Pam felt her head spin and a little piece of her heart shatter. But if Russell Edgington had not broken her, then she was going to be damned if Bill Compton did.

He was a vampire. They were both vampires. She did not need to be told that they could turn on those they were meant to love. She knew that. She had done that.

She was not an innocent naive little human.

She was not...

The door opened and she did not have turn to turn to know it was her maker who was coming to her side. Well, for that she was grateful. As much as she was_ not_ hurting for a prick like Bill, she guessed she could do with someone being there to hold her hand.

Only because she had been unwell though. There was no other reason.

But Eric knew better.

Going to the side of his progeny as she sat on the chair, he did not attempt take any more of her pride by looking her straight in the face

"I'm sorry I did not tell you myself. I wish I had done now."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because it would have looked like point scoring. And after so long of the two of being at odds, I just didn't want to disturb the peace between the two of us at the moment. Cowardly perhaps, but I have missed you."

She looked up at him and stopped fighting the tears.

_I missed you..._

The words she had needed to hear.

Reaching out for her hand, he helped her up, only to pull her back in to his lap when he had sat down. He kissed her cheek.

"It wasn't cowardly, Eric. You wouldn't know how to be that. It was his mistake – that is nothing to do with you and me. We have enough between us of own to worry about between the two of us."

As they sat there together their foreheads kissed.

"How did we let it get to this?" she sighed as she turned to look at him. "We're not Jess and Bill, we're not just any maker and progeny. This is **me and you**, Eric."

He nodded in agreement.

"Too many mistakes and too much anger," he admitted thoughtfully.

"On both sides," Pam sighed as she leant into him and shut her eyes, nuzzling in to him. _Though, perhaps more on yours..._

"I shouldn't have yelled at you, and I should not..."

"Have threatened to kill me?" Pam helped Eric along.

"No – no that was, unnecessary. And you?"

"I shouldn't have not married Bill. Running away wasn't the answer."

"No – no, it wasn't, though we have both been guilty of that. I missed you when we were in Rome. Taking Sookie there..."

A million unsaid things hung in the air...

"When you were unwell, I got to remembering. I was thinking about 1912 – when we were in Rome... Pam, I shouldn't have forgotten or betrayed my promise. It breaks my heart to think that I have hurt you," he whispered as he held her.

"This is not very cold or heartless. Not on either of our parts. But as long as we are being open, I was wrong to be jealous..."

"We have had one hundred years together, over one hundred years. I could _never_ love anyone in the variety of ways I love you. Pamela, there is only one..."

The silence between them returned as they held each other. "Will you stay today?

He nodded. He would rest easier if she was in his arms.

"Come home? When all this is over, when you can. Darling, come home..."

The two of them sat there heartbroken together, but no longer lonely, staining with one another's clothes with bloody tears. Forgiveness would come easier than forgetting.

But the recent reminder of how fragile their immortality was remained at the forefront of their minds. One hundred years on... and still the life was too short...

_Please review!_

Author Note: Hey all – hope this chapter was what you were all expected or if not, that you didn't think Pam forgave too soon. I just feel like after six months in a coma, a lot of bull would seem unimportant, no matter how much it hurt at the time.

Just a quick heads up to say that if chapter 24 doesn't conclude the story, chapter 25 will. It Has been a lot of fun to write, bugt Breaking is about to draw to a close. However, I have had an idea for my next Paric fic (which will be far more Paric than this one, if that makes sense.)


	24. London's Calling

**Chapter 24**

Pam did not think she was ever going to be able to tell anyone how weird it was for her the day she was told she was able to go home. She could only suppose that when she had been in the clinic she had begun to get a little institutionalised. She had had a routine in there and she found she did not have to buck against it to prove she was her own person.

And that had been a lovely sensation.

All she had had to do was what she was told by the medics to get better.

But she had always known that the day she was going to be thrown out of the comfort and safety of it was going to come.

And deep down she was pleased by it.

Safety was also boredom to her and she had never been one much for being bored.

Of course, there was only one place that she could go now that Bill had told her the two of them were not married. That they had never been wed.

And there was only one place that she wanted to go anyway. Even if she had been wed to Bill, there would only be one place to go.

Eric. Home. Her maker. Her protector. Her family.

Even though she was in effect going back though, she knew it was not going to be as it had been before. She and Eric would have one another - but there was going to be no Ginger. And that still stung. She knew it was going to for a quiet a while actually.

"How do you feel?" the Viking asked her as the two of them got in the car. He was on his best behaviour. He had carried her bag to the car and he was being a gentleman to her.

She did not know how long it was going to last or how long she was going to appreciate it so she might as well make the most of it while it lasted, she thought with a smile.

But it was hard... when this was not the way the two of them had ever been together. She did not want him having to look after her. The two of them as a team. That was the way it should be. Not him having to pet and comfort her. She was more than ready to get back to being herself.

"I am going to be a lot better when we get back to the house," she said as she sat back.

"I went to get all your things so you do not have to worry about any of that," Eric told her as he got in the car and turned on the engine.

"Well, that is a deliverance," she said as she looked at her hands. She knew she was going to have to face Bill in the end but she did not think she was quite ready to yet.

She had so much going through her head in regards to him and even though she was not so strong yet, she did not quite think it was safe for him to be about her.

As her maker leaned over, she met him half way so that he was able to kiss her cheek. It was just the way he looked at her every now and again but she got the feeling that he was not yet convinced the two of them had really this lucky and were at last going home together. That it was over.

Though not forgotten yet, the rift between them was healing itself.

XXX

"I got a text off Pam. She is going home today – Eric has picked her up already," said Jess to Bill as she went into the office. She had not been too sure if she was to tell him or not.

She never did seem to be sure whether to talk to Bill over Pam any more.

But she had decided in the end she should tell him. He cared no matter what anyone else said. And she cared for him. Quentin was right; he was the only maker she was ever going to have.

And she loved him. She wanted him to – have a chance at making thing right? To be in the loop? She didn't know. But Jess felt he had a right to know.

"I am glad."

She did not think she had ever heard him so tired. The night when he had got back from seeing Pam, he had been distraught – to the point he had not even spoken to her about it for nights after wards.

She had never known him to hold his tongue before.

It was so not like Bill.

"Are you going to go and see her?"

"No, but do not allow me to stop you going."

"When she is calmed down the two of you are going to be – "

"Pam is never going to want me near her again and even if she does then, Eric is never going to let me near her," he sighed.

"You know, she is not going to let her dictate her life to him. Pam is very much her own women now."

"She is – "

"Bill, the pair of you have made some wonderful memories, and it was not as if what the two of you felt was fake."

_But is she going to see it that way?_ He did not think so. He was very grateful Jess for trying to be kind to him. But he was sure that was all it boiled down to really.

"I have got a lot of work to do tonight, sweetie. Better get on," Jess nodded as she understood what he was really saying. Leaving the room, she felt deflated and sad for all involved.

XXX

The blood donors seemed unlimited. Her comfort was at the fore front of his mind. Pam was home with Eric and it seemed to her he was more solicitous of her care than he had ever been.

But comfort and kindness had never been what they had been about.

"When can I go back to work?" she said to him. If there was one thing in the world she was not ashamed to admit was that she had missed the club. The punters were as stupid as they came but she liked that too.

"You can put that out of your mind for a while," He said as he came in to the living room to see she was sitting on the sofa.

Sitting by her side, he wrapped a strong arm about her and kissed her cheek.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me. I am not going to sit around like some damn invalid and wait to be better."

"Pam these last six months have been hell for the two of us," he said as he held her. "Longer than that actually. Can I not just enjoy you for a while? Enjoy the two of us being home?"

"We can for a night or two but do the two of us really find one another that interesting after all this time?" she said teasingly.

"Of course we do." Pamela was the most fascinating being in the world to him. And that was why he had changed her. no one else. Just her.

If Eric had not been away so much already then he would have suggested the two of them go away together. But somehow he did not think it was the answer. The two of them needed peace.

And routine. And to be together. And be normal.

Yet, Pam had other ideas.

"Eric the last time, I was unwell, I went away to recover did I not?"

It was as if she had invaded his thoughts. He did not know what she was going to say next but he had an awful feeling he was not going to like it much.

"You did."

"And when Godric last saw me at the hospital he said he had business which was going to take him to London for a while."

He paused. So she even knew where she wanted to go.

"And there was me thinking you were going to allow me to look after you."

"Eric, you have done – but really, how long is that going to be enough for either of us?" she said as she arched an eyebrow.

"The way I feel about you right now, I think that would be enough for me forever."

She _wanted_ to doubt him – but he said it with such intensity that she could not. She knew if she did stay at his side then he was going to be devoted to her until she could take care of herself once more. And he would love her for it.

So perhaps, she had to admit to herself she was doing this for her own vanity. She did not want him to see her as ill anymore. Or indecisive. For so many years she had been his right hand girl – an extension of himself. And that was what she wanted to be again. Not some confused progeny not knowing whether to turn left or right. She could not believe that was who he wanted her to be either.

"Let me go – it won't be for long. Eric, I am always, always, always going to come back to you. There will never come a day when I don't," she sighed as she turned to face him.

As their eyes met, he knew she was being sincere and he did not have to question her. She had already proved every word she had said then to be true.

He had said he was going to let her go if it came it when she had been ill. And he had already gone back on his word too many times when it came to her lately. But to think he had not wanted her to go to work – and now he was agreeing to her going away from him completely.

"For six months. That is all you can go for," he swallowed. He did not want her to go for even that long but if he had too... if he had to let her go then the least she could permit him was to put a time limit on their separation.

"I can accept that," she sighed as she settled down and snuggled in to his arms.

"There is only one problem I for see with your plan," he sighed as he strummed through her hair with his fingers.

She knew what it was going to be before he said it.

"I am going to have to go to the king to get permission to leave the state. I know that," Pam pouted. The truth was if she had her way then she would never have to face Bill again. He was a fool, and worse, he was a fool who had fooled her.

"Well, after all that has gone on I do not suppose he can reasonably refuse you. Unless he says that due to the fact you have been so ill you should remain in the state in case of relapse."

"Well, fuck that. No, I am done sleeping all fucking night. And I swear, if Bill even so much as tries that – "

"Then I will support you in doing your very worse, sweetheart," he muttered. "But for now, let's just stay here a while," he said as he held on to her tightly.

That, she would concede.

The two remained cuddled up together until the sun came up. When it did, they both went to his room to sleep for the day.

XXX

"You are going to go away for a while?" asked Jess as she sat down on her bed. The last person she had expected to come to the palace that week was Pam. She had thought Eric was going to keep her wrapped up in silk and feathers at home with all the blood donors she was ever going to need.

As it was, barely a week had passed since she had got the text which said she was home.

"I think it is just about time I had holiday," sighed Pam as she stood before her, large as life and twice as pink.

Still, the younger vampire could not say she was not saddened. She was going to miss Pam – a lot. She felt as if she had only just got her back. "I know you have had a tough time and I get what you are saying."

"Do you really? Somehow I do not think you do sweetie. I am not telling you this so that we can kiss and say good bye. It is time you saw some of the world, Jess. London. How about it?"

The red had looked at her as if she had just been slapped in the face.

And then a smile spread across her feelings.

XXX

Bill was not all together sure what he felt when Pam walked into his office that day.

For just a moment he felt as if nothing had happened. As if she still lived with him. As if the two of them were great friends. As if nothing had changed.

But the truth was everything had. Except the way he felt perhaps.

He found he loved her still. Very much the way he had not so long ago.

"It is good to see you looking so well," he smiled up at her. It took all he had not to add the endearment 'sweetheart', at the end of that sentence.

"Cut the crap. I want a get out of jail free card."

"Pamela, can we not talk about it?" he asked her gently. She did not need to ask what 'it' was.

"Ok. I was sad. Eric had left me. I cried. You lied. I was an idiot. You were a bigger idiot. I nearly died and then we all lived happily ever after. Anything more to say?"

He wished for just one moment, she was willing to be serious and the two of them – and who and what they had been. But maybe she was not ready to do that yet.

And he knew he had lost the right to ask that of her many months ago.

"You want to leave Louisiana?"

"Only for a short time. You know what they say. London's calling." she said with a shrug.

"Time to go home?"

"Yes and no."

He looked at her. He knew he had no right to say no. He could not hold her if she did not want to be held. And if Eric was letting her go...

"Ok."

"Jess wants to come with me."

He shook his head. Why was he not surprised? And why was he not angry? After all, the girl was his progeny.

But he...

A trip away for the two girls would do them good. He knew she was not taking Jess as part of some sort of game. The two of them were friends and they got on so well. Pam wanted a travelling companion who she could trust.

More than that, he knew they loved one another. After all they had both been through...

"The trip will do her good," he nodded. She needed her horizons expanded.

"So we can go?"

"You can."

Pam nodded her thanks and turned to leave the room.

"Pam?"

Craning her neck to look back at her king, she paused. A heavy silence hung on the room.

"Have a good time."

She nodded and looked at the floor. "See you next year, Pumpkin."

And with that, she walked out of the palace and out of his life.

_Please review!_


	25. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Six months and one day later, Pam walked into Fangtasia. She was home.

London was lovely – but cold. It had been many years since Pam had had to endure an English winter. Still it had been a lovely excuse for a new winter wardrobe.

Jess had made the most of the trip. Having never left America before, she had had a natural curiosity to see something of the world when they had set off. Still, by the end of it, she had been equally excited to get home. She wanted to be back at the palace. She wanted her maker. She wanted a certain presidential son...

As for Pam, she would concede that it had not only been her own maker she too had missed. Bill and she had had something real. Looking back, she knew that. Now she had had time to calm down from what he had done, she could admit that much to her heart, which had healed under Godric's paternal care.

Still – she had not missed Bill the way she had missed Eric. That was the driven home to her as she saw him come out of the office, having heard her enter the club. He stood before her in his glory, six feet of Viking god. His black jeans and black vest highlighted his piercing blue eyes.

He enjoyed the vision of her standing there in a deep red dress. Short, of course, but the colour of it recalled to mind another dress she had worn.

_Did they have a debt to settled once more?_

"You, petulant girl, are late."

"Am I?" she asked innocently. And there she stood. His progeny. This was not the emotional wreck he had known her to be over the past year.

Edgington had been gone for almost twelve months. In fact, the anniversary of that night would be that coming Thursday night. She had come through so much – and she was stronger for it.

"Yes. Yes, you are, but we both know that. You are also, however, a vision of beauty tonight."

Stepping forward, he took her in his arms and felt her cling to him. Yes, it had been a long year. But it was over now. And the bond between them was stronger than ever. It had hung upon a thread at times, but no more. It would not and could not break.

"I love you."

"I love you too – I love you so much."

**The End! **

**Author Note: I can never decide if I love or hate finishing a story. This one has been a joy to write, so I think it is more 'hate' in this case. A massive thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed **_**Breaking of the Bond**_**. I don't know if this ending is going to please everyone, but the paric shipper in me dictated this was the way the cookie had to crumble. A few deleted scenes **_**may**_** be posted. I feel like things still need to be resolved between Pam/Bill but that scene in my mind goes in a way that makes it an AU of an AU. Therefore, for now, I'm leaving it here. Thanks again guys! **

**I mentioned my new plot in Ch. 23. I don't know when I will post that as I'm still planning, trying to work out if it is a viable plot and then deciding what was to go with it. I can never stay away from Paric for too long though : ) **

Please review!


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